News Analysis India

Tag: Black fungus

  • 28,252 mucormycosis cases reported from 28 states/UTs: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said 28,252 cases of mucormycosis have so far been reported from 28 states/UTs in the country, of which 86 per cent cases have a history of COVID-19 and 62.3 per cent with a history of diabetes.

    Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of mucormycosis cases (6,339) followed by Gujarat (5,486), he said after chairing the 28th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 via video conferencing, a health ministry statement said.

    V K Paul, member (Health), NITI Aayog presented a brief snapshot of the country’s vaccination status, preparedness for pediatric COVID-19 care, and the way forward to prevent the third wave of the infection, at the conference.

    He said India took 141 days to reach the 23 crore-mark in terms of cumulative doses administered, which remains the second highest in the world after the US which did the same in 134 days.

    “India is also one of the world’s fastest countries in terms of number of doses administered so far.

    Out of 88.7 crore people who have been administered at least one dose globally, India accounts for 17.9 crore, which is 20.2 per cent of the global coverage,” Paul maintained.

    He also remarked that India is fully prepared to deal with pediatric COVID-19 care, but caution remains the key.

    Vardhan noted that till Monday morning, 23,27,86,482 vaccine doses were administered to citizens in various categories.

    Talking specifically about the 18-44 age group, the first dose has been given to 2,86,18,514 people, he said.

    “As of today, over 1.4 crore doses are still available with the states,” he said.

    About other categories, the minister noted that first doses have been given to 6,06,75,796 people in the ‘above 60 category’ and 7,10,44,966 in the 45-59 age group.

    On the testing front, he stated that 36,63,34,111 Covid tests have so far has conducted and the laboratories for testing purposes have also gone up to 2,624 in the country.

    “Daily positivity rate has also been declining and is at 6.34 per cent and even though this is less than 10 per cent positivity rate for 14 consecutive days, there still are 15 states where the daily positivity rate is greater than 10 per cent,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

    In the second wave of COVID-19, the health minister said continuously daily cases are declining and are outnumbered by new recoveries.

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    He said 83 per cent of active cases are in 10 states and the remaining 17 per cent in 26 states/UTs.

    Seven states/UTs, namely, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, have less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases, he said.

    Five states and UTs (Jammu, Punjab, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh) have less than 2,000 cases.

    Even the most affected states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have observed decline in the number of cases at a significant rate.

    The growth rate has declined from 14.7 per cent (May 5) to 3.48 per cent (today), the statement said.

    Vardhan added that Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) sequencing labs are looking at the mutants which have significant potential of severely affecting the disease transmission.

    As of now, 10 national labs under INSACOG have sequenced around 30,000 samples and 18 more labs have been added to the consortium recently to boost the capacity of sequencing, he said.

    “The recovery rate has been climbing up and stands at 93.94 per cent today.

    In the last 24 hours, we have had the least number of daily new cases in the last 61 days with just over 1 lakh cases (1,00,636).

    “A total of 1,74,399 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours and our case fatality rate has been 1.2 per cent. Today is the 25th day in succession where our daily recoveries outnumbered new cases,” he said. On emerging cases of mucormycosis, the Union minister said, “So far, 28,252 cases have been reported from 28 states.

    Out of these, 86 per cent (24,370 cases) have a history of COVID-19 infection and 62.3 per cent (17,601) have a history of diabetes.

    Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of Mucormycosis cases (6,339) followed by Gujarat (5,486),” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

    Giridhar Aramane, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways gave an overview of oxygen availability in the country and measures taken to ramp up production and supply chain.

    He mentioned that various initiatives have been undertaken to enhance oxygen availability and distribution through increase in production capacity, setting up of Pressure Swing Adsorption plants, import of LMO and oxygen concentrators.

    He said oxygen production has increased from 5,700 MT in August, 2020 to more than 9,500 MT in May, 2021, and around 1,718 PSA plants (1,213 under PM Cares by MoHFW & DRDO, 108 by MoPNG, 40 by MoCoal, 25 by MoPower, 19 from foreign aid and 313 by state governments) are being established, the statement said.

    Further, the senior official highlighted that procurement of 1 lakh oxygen concentrators have been sanctioned under PM Cares Fund and an Oxygen Digital Tracking System (ODTS) has been developed to enable real time tracking of LMO movement in the country.

  • 27 black fungus patients fall sick after Amphotericin-B shot in Madhya Pradesh

    By PTI
    SAGAR: At least 27 patients suffering from mucormycosis or ‘black fungus’ took ill after they were administered Amphotericin-B injections at the government Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, an official said on Sunday, adding the medical condition of these patients is stable now.

    The use of the injection, a key drug in the treatment of black fungus, was immediately stopped after the incident on Saturday evening.

    “At least 27 patients, out of the 42 patients admitted in the mucormycosis ward, were given Amphotericin-B injections on Saturday around 6 pm.

    Immediately after they were administered the injections, which were provided to us by the government, the patients started complaining of adverse reactions like mild fever, shivering and vomiting,” BMC public relation officer Dr Umesh Patel told PTI over the phone.

    He said the use of the injection was stopped immediately.

    “BMC superintendent and dean sprang into action and symptomatic treatment of the affected patients was started immediately. The condition of all the patients is stable.

    There is no need to fear,” Dr Patel added.

    He said authorities and the government are being kept in the loop about the treatment being given to the patients.

    Another doctor at the facility said approximately 300 to 350 anti-fungal injections had been supplied to the BMC by the MP government just two days ago.

    “These Amphotericin-B injections were of a different brand. Earlier, we used to get injections of another manufacturer,” he added.

  • Maharashtra government fixes black fungus treatment rates in private hospitals

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: In view of the increasing black fungus (Mucormycosis) cases, the Maharashtra government has fixed medical treatment charges for private hospitals. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray cleared a notification of the health department fixing the rate cards for private hospitals on Friday.

    The state government said that post-COVID complications are increasing mainly among the co-morbidity cases and the black fungus disease has been identified among the diabetic, who recently recovered from COVID.

    The rates are: Rs 4,000 per bed for Class A city hospitals, Rs 3,000 for Class B city hospitals and Rs 2,400 for Class C city hospitals. “Bigger tests and investigations, as well as costly drugs, are excluded from these fixed charges,” it said.

    “The charges for the ICU without ventilator and Isolation are: Rs 7,500 for Class A city hospitals, Rs 5,500 for Class B city hospitals and Rs 4,500 for Class C city hospitals. The ICU with ventilator and isolation charges are Rs 9,000 for Class A,  Rs 6,700 for Class B and Rs 5,400 for Class C,” said the order.

    The state government has also fixed the cost of surgeries. There are 28 types of surgeries at Rs 10, 000 to Rs 1 lakh for Class A cities, Rs 7,500 to Rs 75,000 for Class B cities and Rs 6,000 to Rs 60,000 for Class C cities.

    Class A cities include Mumbai and metropolitan areas (Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivali, Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation area, Ambernath, Kulgaon Badlapur, Panvel Municipal Corporation), Pune and Pune metropolitan area, Nagpur (Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Digdoh, Wadi).

    Class B cities include Nashik, Amravati, Aurangabad, Bhiwandi, Solapur, Kolhapur, Vasai-Virar, Malegaon, Nanded, Sangli. Class C includes cities not included in A and B lists.

    Free of cost in government hospitals, says health minister

    The state government has decided to make treatment of black fungus free in government hospitals under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Health Scheme. Health Minister Rajesh Tope said such cases are increasing and many are opting for private hospitals for treatment.

    “We have received complaints that many private hospitals are charging exorbitantly from black fungus patients. The government has taken a decision to reduce the medical treatment charges,” he said.

  • Doctor BP Sonkar dies of black fungus, treatment was going on in Ambedkar Hospital

    Cases of black fungus are increasing continuously in Chhattisgarh. Doctors are also coming in the grip of black fungus.
    Today on Thursday, doctor BP Sonkar, who was battling black fungus, has died. Dr BP Sonkar was the Medical Officer of Police Family Welfare Hospital.
    Dr BP Sonkar was undergoing treatment at Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur.

  • Rahul Gandhi asks Centre three questions on its efforts to curb black fungus

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over a rise in black fungus or Mucormycosis cases in the country, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday again targeted the central government on its efforts to curb the rise in fungal infection.

    Taking to Twitter, he sought answers from the Centre to three of his questions.

    “Central Government should clarify about the Black fungus epidemic – 1. What is being done for Amphotericin B drug shortage? 2. What is the procedure for getting this medicine to the patient? 3. Instead of giving treatment, why is the public getting bogged down in formalities by the government?” he posted on his Twitter page.

    ALSO READ | HC asks Centre, Delhi govt to form policy on distribution of drug for black fungus patients

    The Congress MP has previously also attacked the BJP government and blamed the “inefficiency” of the PM Narendra Modi government for the “epidemic of black fungus along with the Covid pandemic” in the country.

    Cases of Covid-19 triggered black fungus across the country have witnessed a significant increase, which has also led to a significant rise in the death toll. Karnataka has reported 1,250 cases and 39 related deaths so far. In Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city, 39 people died due to the infection. On Friday, two succumbed to the infection in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut reported 147 black fungus cases in total.

    Meanwhile, on Sunday, India received a consignment of 200,000 AmBisome (Amphotericin B injection), informed Ambassador of India to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

  • HC asks Centre, Delhi govt to form policy on distribution of drug for black fungus patients

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Centre and Delhi government to come out with a policy on distribution of Amphotericin-B, used for treating black fungus patients, and take the “cruel decision” of excluding certain age group or class of people till the drug is in shortage.

    The bench said “we follow the practice of ‘Vasudev Kutumbakam’ which means the world is one family but if there are two patients in a family who need the medicine and you have one dose, you have to chose one member”.

    The bench asked them not to leave the decision to the doctors and form a clear policy in this regard and told the counsel for the Centre and Delhi government to come back with instructions on Tuesday.

    Citing an example, it said that if there are two patients — one is 80-year-old and other is 35-year-old — and there is only one dose of medicine then it should be given to whom.

    “That’s a bullet you have to take it” and “you have to take this cruel decision” which is not at all an easy task, said a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, making it clear that it was not at all saying life of any person is less important than another.

    “Every life is important but we are trying to find a way forward. Every life is important, we are not for a moment saying someone’s life is not important or less important.

    But you have to take a decision. Every single life is important,” the bench said.

    It said it is an issue which neither Centre nor state government can duck and it is a decision that the political leadership will have to take in consultation with medical experts without leaving it only to doctors who may face the wrath of the patients’ relatives.

    Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, said they were following the formula of Centre to allocate the vials on pro-rata basis and let the Central government change its formula, the state will change its system.

    The court also told the Centre’s counsel that as a matter of policy, the government will have to say till the drug is not available in appropriate quantity, it will have to leave some patients and “you have to exclude some”.

    “The 80-year-old man has lived his life, he has no more responsibility, of course there is a support from his side to the family.

    Whereas, the 35-year-old patient has two children to support. If we have to make a cruel choice, we have to take a decision.

    Will you give it to the 80-year-old patient or to whom who has two children to support,” the bench said.

    Central government standing counsel Kirtiman Singh said for non-centre hospitals, states have to take the decision and even states will know the patient load.

    To this, the bench said, “You have to prioritise. There is scarcity of the medicine. You will have to make that list.

    You are making allocation from central pool. It has to be on the basis of priority.” It said if a patient requires six vials to beat the fungus, the government cannot say make do with two doses.

    “Neither Centre nor state government can duck it. It is a decision that the political leadership will have to take in consultation with medical experts.

    Why you are leaving the decision with the doctor. He will be lynched by four others in the hospital,” the bench said, adding politically it will be good for both for them, the Centre and the state.

    It said the government has to take the decision whether to give it to 80 plus, 75 plus of age group or not as today everyone is suffering across the board and if a person does not get six vials a day, it could be fatal.

    The bench said distributing two vials each to everyone is not helping anyone and said giving medicine on pro-rata basis was not acceptable and asked the counsel to come with instructions on Tuesday.

    The court has been hearing the issue of shortage of the medicine for treating black fungus, primarily affecting people who have recovered from COVID-19.

    The court has also asked the Centre to place on record the details of current status of its imports of the drug and when the stocks are expected.

    According to the Union Health Ministry, people catch mucormycosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores in the environment.

    It can also develop on the skin after the fungus enters the skin through a cut, scrape, burn, or other type of skin trauma.

    The disease is being detected among patients who are recovering or have recovered from COVID-19.

    Moreover, anyone who is diabetic and whose immune system is not functioning well needs to be on the guard against this, the ministry has said.

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  • Black fungus found in brains of many patients in Indore hospital

    By PTI
    INDORE: Mucormycosis or black fungus has been detected in the brains of at least 15 per cent of patients admitted for the infection in Government Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, a senior doctor said on Monday.

    Of the 368 Mucormycosis patients admitted in MYH, an initial study has shown that 55 of them have the infection in their brains, and this has been confirmed by CT (computerised tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans, said Dr Rakesh Gupta, head of department, neurosurgery, MYH.

    While most of these patients had a “small size infection” in their brains, four had to go undergo major brain surgery to prevent the spread of infection, Dr Gupta said.

    He said the infection had reached the brains of these patients through their sinus before hospitalisation.

    Some other experts said the initial symptoms of black fungus infection in the brain included headache and vomiting, with the patient later losing consciousness as the infection spreads.

    Meanwhile, another official said the shortage of Amphotericin-B injections was affecting efforts to tackle the black fungus infection.

    While black fungus infection is being found mostly in COVID-19 patients and those who had recovered from it, there are some cases where Mucormycosis has struck those who never contracted coronavirus.

  • 50 people have died due to black fungus in Haryana, 650 more receiving treatment: Khattar

    Health Minister Anil Vij had directed officials to increase the number of beds in all government medical colleges of the state from 20 to 75 to treat patients infected with black fungus.

  • Oral drug to treat ‘black fungus’ ready for technology transfer: IIT Hyderabad Researchers

    By PTI
    HYDERABAD: Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, have developed an oral solution to treat Black Fungus (Mucormycosis) and other fungus and are ready to transfer the technology to take it forward, the premier institute said.

    A 60-mg tablet, which can be priced at about Rs 200, is patient friendly as its slow and sustained release in the body reduces nephrotoxicity (adverse impact of medicines and chemicals on the kidney, IIT said in a release on Saturday Prof.Saptarshi Majumdar and Dr.Chandra Shekhar Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering have made a proven study about oral nanofibrous AMB to be effective for Kala Azar (visceral leishmaniasis).

    “With the two years of advancement of examination, the researchers are now confident that the technology can be transferred to suitable pharma partners for large-scale production. At present, the Kala-Azar treatment is being used as a treatment for Black and other Fungus in the country and its availability and affordability make it need to allow emergency and immediate trial of this oral drug,” IIT-H said.

    The technology developed is made free from Intellectual Property rights so that it can be mass-produced and is affordable and available to the public at large, Dr.Chandra Shekhar Sharma said.

  • 59-year-old Ghaziabad man with yellow, black and white fungus dies

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: A 59-year-old COVID-19 patient, who was also detected with black, white and yellow fungus, has passed away here, the doctor treating him said on Saturday.

    “Kunwar Singh was under treatment but passed away due to toxemia (blood poisoning by toxins) at 7.30 pm on Friday,” Dr. B P Tyagi, an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist at Harsh Hospital in the city’s Raj Nagar area, told PTI.

    The doctor said Singh, a lawyer from Sanjay Nagar in the city, had approached him recently with Covid conditions.

    “The yellow fungus, besides white and black fungus, was detected during endoscopy on May 24,” Tyagi added.

    Meanwhile, he said his hospital is treating another 59-year-old man from Muradnagar who has also been detected with yellow fungus infections.

    “The fungus in Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Muradnagar, was detected near his brain. Half of his jaw has been removed,” he said.

    He too has toxemia but the level of infection is lesser than what Kunwar Singh had, the doctor said, adding the patient is on anti-fungal medication.

    Ghaziabad, adjoining Delhi, in western Uttar Pradesh has recorded 432 deaths linked to Covid-19 so far and 1,957 active cases of coronavirus, according to official figures updated till Friday.