News Analysis India

Tag: Black fungus

  • India records more than 45,000 cases of ‘black fungus’ over two months

    By AFP
    NEW DELHI: India recorded more than 45,000 cases of the deadly “black fungus” over the last two months, the health ministry said, as a nationwide outbreak sweeps through COVID-19 patients.

    Minister of State (Health & Family Welfare) Bharati Pawar told parliament on Tuesday that over 4,200 people had died of the fungus — scientific name mucormycosis. The infection was previously considered very rare but cases have ballooned during the pandemic, usually striking patients after recovery from COVID-19.

    It is a highly aggressive disease and surgeons have been forced to remove eyes, the nose and jaw from patients to stop it spreading to the brain. The death rate is over 50 percent. According to government data, the highest number of cases were reported in the western state of Maharashtra at 9,348.

    India dealt with just 20 cases a year on average before the pandemic, with only people with severely compromised immunity at risk, including those with high blood sugar levels, HIV or organ transplant recipients. Experts have attributed the recent rise to the excessive use of steroids to treat COVID-19.

    The Centre declared the fungus an epidemic in May as cases shot up and social media has been flooded with desperate pleas for medicines to treat the illness. Government data tabled on Tuesday suggested infection numbers peaked during May and June and have since substantially decreased.

    But a media report cted on Monday that there had been a rise in cases among children in Rajasthan.

  • Maharashtra cop kills self with service weapon after losing eyesight to black fungus 

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: A 46-year-old policeman, who recently lost both his eyes to Mucormycosis, allegedly killed himself using his service pistol in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city on Saturday, police said.

    Head constable Pramod Mergurwar shot himself in the mouth with his service weapon at his home in Mankapur area of the city around 3 pm, an official said.

    Mergurwar, who had joined the special protection unit (SPU) on deputation a few years ago, had recovered from COVID-19 and later contracted black fungus infection, the official said.

    The head constable was admitted to a hospital for treatment, during which doctors had to remove one of his eyes, and soon when the infection started spreading fast, he lost the other eye as well, he said.

    The policeman had been depressed following his recovery, the official said, adding that the deceased’s body was sent for post-mortem and a case of accidental death has been registered.

    The deceased policeman is survived by his wife and two children, he added.

    (If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation – 04424640050 (available 24×7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ helpline – 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)

  • 85 per cent of black fungus cases in Covid patients: Data

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: India has reported 40,845 mucormycosis or black fungus cases during the Covid-19 second wave so far, nearly 85% of which have been seen in coronavirus patients. It has already claimed 3,129 lives. 

    These figures were shared by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan in a meeting of the group of ministers on Monday.

    Data presented showed that while 34,940 patients had Covid-19, 26,187 or about 64.11% were co-morbid for diabetes. Also, 31,444 of the cases were rhinoorbital in nature, meaning the patients had infection in and around the nasal cavity.  

    The disease struck the highest number of people in 45–60-year age group, but even younger ones were not spared.

  • Indian missions working on war footing to get medicines for black fungus: Centre to SC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that Indian missions all over the world have been working on a “war footing” for sourcing medicines like Amphotericin or additional and alternative drugs for the treatment of COVID-related Mucormycosis (CAM) in the country.

    The Union health ministry, in a 375-page affidavit filed in the apex court on Saturday, responded in detail to the query of an apex court bench about the steps being taken to ensure drug availability for Mucormycosis.

    It said the projected production of L-Amphotericin B by domestic manufacturers in August is likely to be 5.525 lakh units of injections and in order to maintain equitable distribution, states are given the medicines in accordance with the proportion of their reported caseload.

    Besides ramping up domestic production facilities of medicines like Amphotericin, the government said it has also issued guidance on the judicious use of the drug, and states and UTs have been required to put in place transparent arrangements for allocation to private and government hospitals.

    “The drug Amphotericin is available both through domestic production and by imports, and both sources have been ramped up. The capacity and supply have had to be increased manifold in a very short period of time to cope with the surge in demand seen for the first time in May and June 2021.

    “Further, allocation is being made as an interim measure to enable equitable distribution across states, using patient data of Mucormycosis as reported on the portal created for this purpose by MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare),” it said.

    The affidavit said in order to augment domestic manufacturing, the Centre has been continuously engaging with manufacturers to resolve issues related to raw materials.

    In this regard, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is playing a critical role in reaching out to various manufacturers abroad, and with the active participation of MEA, several important and critical steps have been taken to augment both domestic production and imports.

    “It may be noted that vide OM dated 16.05.2021, MHFW had requested MEA to explore all possibilities of sourcing Amphotericin B/Liposomal Amphotericin B injection from abroad through Indian Mission.

    “Accordingly, MEA has also instructed Indian Missions all over the world to immediately identify additional sources of the drug and alternative drugs for the treatment of Mucormycosis. The said exercise is in process at war footing,” it said.

    In order to augment domestic production, the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the Drug Controller General of India has actively coordinated with the industry for the identification of manufacturers, alternate drugs and expeditious approvals of new manufacturing facilities, the affidavit said.

    “The DCGI after consultation with the association of Drugs manufacturers has recently issued manufacturing/marketing permission of Amphotericin B Liposomal Injection to eleven companies so as to augment the production which would be available.

    Some of such 11 companies have already started producing and some are commencing production from July 2021,” it said.

    The affidavit also dealt with the availability of Remdesivir and said that looking at the sudden increase in demand for the patented drug in April 2021, the central government had made efforts to augment the production by the seven licensed domestic manufacturers.

    “The domestic production capacity was augmented from 38 lakh vials per month to nearly 122 lakh vials per month with the accelerated approval of 40 additional manufacturing sites by the DCGI (Drug Controller General of India) taking the number of sites to 62,” it said.

    The government also undertook allocation of the drug to all the states and UTs in a move to ensure fair and equitable distribution for an interim period till production was ramped up and the drug became adequately available in the market, it said.

    Beginning with the first distribution to states and UTs on April 21, 2021 to the last allocation made on May 23, 2021, the total cumulative allocation of 98.87 lakh vials of Remdesivir was made to them, it said.

    “Meanwhile, noting the slowdown in the demand of Remdesivir, owing to decrease in the number of active cases and sufficient availability of the drug with States/UTs, allocation by Government of India has been discontinued in the end of May 2021, and states / UTs can purchase as per their requirement from the manufacturers,” it said.

    Dealing with the availability of Tocilizumab, the Centre said, this medicine is listed in the treatment protocol for the management of COVID 19 patients.

    “Since the drug is not manufactured in India it is sourced from a company Roche in Switzerland and marketed by Cipla Ltd in India.

    “Till about March 2021, the demand of Tocilizumab by various hospitals across the country was adequately being met until the sudden spike of COVID cases April 2021 onwards whereby the demand for the drug went up hugely,” it said.

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  • Over 230 Black Fungus deaths in Andhra Pradesh: Health department data

    By PTI
    AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh has so far reported 237 Black Fungus (mucormycosis) deaths, the Health Department data said on Friday.

    In all, 3,148 mucormycosis cases were reported in the state, it said. While 1,398 patients got cured, 1,513 are still undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

    Chittoor, which has the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the state, also topped in Black Fungus fatalities, accounting for 41. Guntur district logged the highest number of 563 cases so far while West Godavari had the lowest 21.

    SPS Nellore had only one mucormycosis fatality. The data said 1,095 surgeries were performed for treatment of Black Fungus.

  • Three held from Thane for black-marketing black fungus medicine

    By PTI
    THANE: Police have arrested three people here in Maharashtra for allegedly black-marketing a key drug used in the treatment of mucormycosis or ‘black fungus’ infection, an official said on Sunday.

    Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap on Saturday and initially caught two persons who had come to sell the medicine in black, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Vartak Division, Pankaj Shirsat said.

    The two persons, hailing from Panvel in neighbouring Navi Mumbai and Vasai in Palghar district, were arrested near the Kapurbawdi Naka in Thane and 14 injections of Liposomal Amphotericin-B worth Rs 1,09,424 were recovered from them, he said.

    During questioning, the two persons told the police that they had procured the vials from a man from Boisar in Palghar.

    The police later also arrested the third accused, the official said.

    A case was registered against the accused under relevant provisions, the police said, adding that they have been remanded in police custody till June 23.

    Mucormycosis is a fungal infection leading to prolonged morbidity and even mortality among COVID-19 patients.

    The Jharkhand government recently declared mucormycosis as an epidemic amid the rising number of cases of the infection.

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  • Black fungus affects intestines, pancreas of patients: Madhya Pradesh doctors

    By PTI

    INDORE: Mucormycosis or black fungus has been detected in the intestines and pancreas of a few patients, besides affecting lungs and brain, doctors in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore have claimed.

    In the last one week, black fungus infection was found in the intestine and pancreas of two patients, who had recovered from COVID-19 last one month, said Dr Ajay Jain, head of the gastroenterology department at charitable Choithram Hospital.

    “Among the infected patients is a 62-year-old man who came to us with a complaint of intestinal problems. When we operated on him, we found that a three-feet-long part of the small intestine was badly affected and we removed it. On examination, we found that it had been infected with black fungus,” Dr Jain said.

    In the second case, a patient complained of passing blood in motions and following a surgery, it was found that black fungus had infected his pancreas, he said.

    Pulmonologist Dr Ravi Dosi of Shri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS) said, “Black fungus was detected in the stomach of two patients, while in eight other cases it was found in the lungs. This new problem is reported in the patients who recovered from the COVID-19.”

    According to officials, at present more than 500 patients suffering from mucormycosis are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Indore.

  • Govt allocates additional 1.7 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B to states, UTs

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government has allocated an additional 1.7 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B drug, used to treat black fungus infection, to states and union territories, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda said on Wednesday.

    “Ensuring adequate availability and smooth supply of #Amphotericin-B across the country, additional 1,70,000 vials of the drug have been allocated to all the States/UTs & Central Institutions today,” the chemicals and fertilisers minister tweeted.

    Gowda added that an additional 15,520 vials of the critical drug have been allocated to Karnataka.

    “So far, a total of 40,470 vials of the drug have been allocated to the state including today’s allocation for timely treatment of patients,” he said.

    Amphotericin-B is used to treat Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, which damages the nose, eyes, sinuses, and sometimes even the brain.

    Mucormycosis can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immuno-compromised individuals such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS.

    The doctors in India are documenting an alarming number of cases of Mucormycosis among patients with COVID-19 and those who have recently recovered.

    They believe that Mucormycosis may be triggered by the use of steroids, a life-saving treatment for severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients.

  • 79 complex surgeries of black fungus, infection had reached the brain of four

    Four complex operations for Black Fungus (mucormycosis) have been done in last one week at AIIMS. The patients are healthy after the operation which lasted eight to 12 hours. AIIMS management said that now 79 operations have been done for black fungus. This number is more than the number of operations being carried out by any central institution after AIIMS Delhi.

    Nagarkar, Director, AIIMS said that a team of more than 100 doctors from seven departments are performing an average of six to seven complex operations of Mucor mycosis every day. It includes other medical specialists including Ophthalmology, Neuro Surgery, Medicine, Surgery, Anesthesia. For this, five operation theaters and eight wards are reserved. In the past also, patients of black fungus are being treated by AIIMS in the state. This year the number of patients has increased significantly. Four brain-based operations were performed in the last one week.

    Dr Nagarkar said that in view of the increasing number of patients, AIIMS, Raipur requires 600 Amphoteresin-B injections per day. Right now an average of 200 injections are being received. In case of non-availability of injection, help is being taken from their substitute.

    AIIMS is also in constant touch with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in this regard and State Health Minister TS Singhdev has also been apprised in this regard. AIIMS has been given 600 vial Amphoteresin-B injections by the Union Health Ministry last day.

  • Uttar Pradesh: Doctors successfully operate on 14-day-old child infected with black fungus

    By PTI
    AGRA: Doctors at Sarojini Naidu Medical College (SNMC) in Agra successfully operated on a newborn who had symptoms of black fungus (Mucormycosis) on Monday.

    The 14-day-old girl had a black spot and blister on her left cheek when she was admitted to the hospital on Saturday evening and after the operation the fungal infection was removed, Dr Akhilesh Pratap Singh, head of ENT department told PTI.

    ALSO READ | 28,252 mucormycosis cases reported from 28 states/UTs: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

    When she was admitted at SNMC, she had kidney and heart illness, and was underweight, but there were no symptoms of COVID-19, he added.

    She is now out of danger and has been shifted to neonatal ICU of the paediatric department and is under observation, the doctor said.

    According to him, there has been one death due to black fungus while four others died due to suspected infection at SNMC.

    Currently, 32 patients are being treated for black fungus at the hospital while eight others are under evaluation, he added.

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