News Analysis India

Tag: Mucormycosis

  • Mucormycosis patients need 2 years of medical management post-surgery: AIIMS-R doctors

    Express News Service

    RAIPUR: At least two years of post-operative extensive medical management is required for the complete rehabilitation of a mucormycosis patient, affirmed the doctors and specialists associated with the 15 departments of Raipur-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

    Sharing their experiences after managing 239 patients along with cases from other institutions during the national level Hybrid Continuing Medical Education (CME) event ‘Multidisciplinary Management of Mucormycosis’, they came out with the indispensable reasoning.

    “AIIMS provided diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitation services under one roof for Mucormycosis patients. The critical role of health care professionals and medical fraternity continued to evolve as they learned together the Covid-19 pandemic management and later the prevalence of black fungus”, said Prof (Dr.) Nitin M. Nagarkar, Director, AIIMS Raipur and HoD (ENT).

    AIIMS Raipur had successfully managed around 10,000 Covid-19 parents, over 200 Mucormycosis patients so far and deduced significant inference, he added.

    Most of the Covid-19 patients admitted in the AIIMS were senior citizens-60 years and above with comorbidity, according to the data available.

    “This makes them most vulnerable during the treatment process. And AIIMS through its extensive experience provided the much-needed training and guidance to other medical institutions in Chhattisgarh and adjoining states during the pandemic”, said Dr. Ajoy Kumar Behera, nodal officer of Covid-19 ward.

    Dr Atul Jindal stated that during the treatment of Covid-19, the use of steroids and diabetes played a major role in a rapid increase in Mucormycosis patients. The dedicated ward exclusively for Mucormycosis was increased from one to seven in a span of three months to extend urgently and committed medical assistance to the Mucormycosis patients in AIIMS.

    The CME session was attended by around 200 doctors and experts.

  • 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.)

  • Over 40,000 black fungus cases reported in India so far: Harsh Vardhan

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The country has reported 40,845 cases of mucormycosis or black fungus during the Covid second wave so far, nearly 85% of which have been seen as in coronavirus patients while the fungal disease 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 Covid on Monday. 

    Mucormycosis, a rare fungal disease that has reached epidemic proportions over the last few days, is said to be fuelled by the use of steroids, compromised immunity, and diabetes in Covid patients. The disease has caught attention as it has a high mortality rate and manifests itself severely through stark symptoms on the face, lungs and brain and often requires complicated surgeries.  

    #Imp: #Mucormycosis has claimed 3,129 lives so far while 40,845 cases have been reported, 31,444 rhinocerebral in nature. 85 % of those with the disease had #COVID19 & 64 % had diabetes too. But 32% patients were in 18-45 age group, more than 24 % in 60 plus.@NewIndianXpress
    — Sumi Dutta (@SumiSukanya) June 28, 2021

    The data presented in the Monday meeting showed that while 34,940 patients or 85.5% — out of total diagnosed with black fungus — had Covid, 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.  

    However, only about 21,523 (52.69%) of those infected were on steroids and the disease distribution age group wise showed that it struck the highest number of people in 45–60-year age group but even younger ones were not spared.

    For instance, 13,083 patients were in the age group 18-45 (32%), 17,464 were in the age group 45-60 (42%) while 10,082 (24%) patients were 60+ years of age. During the meeting, ICMR director general Balram Bhargava underlined that the second wave has still not subsided as 80 districts still have high positivity. The official, therefore, advised against any laxity at this stage while assuring that the existing Covid vaccines have been found effective against the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants.

  • 40,845 cases of black fungus reported in India so far: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A total of 40,845 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis have been reported in the country so far, of which 31,344 are rhinocerebral in nature, and the death toll from the infections stands at 3,129, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.

    Vardhan, who chaired the 29th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19, apprised the members that of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had Covid (85.5 per cent), 26,187 (about 64.11 per cent) were co-morbid for diabetes, while 21,523 (52.69 per vent) of those infected were on steroids.

    A total of 13,083 patients were in the age group of 18-45 years (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group of 45-60 years (42 per cent), while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were 60-plus years of age, a health ministry statement said.

    Speaking on COVID-19 vaccination drive, Vardhan said, “India has achieved another milestone in COVID-19 vaccination and has overtaken the US in total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far. The US started vaccinating against Covid from December 14, 2020, whereas the drive was launched in India on January 16.”

    #Imp: #Mucormycosis has claimed 3,129 lives so far while 40,845 cases have been reported, 31,444 rhinocerebral in nature. 85 % of those with the disease had #COVID19 & 64 % had diabetes too. But 32% patients were in 18-45 age group, more than 24 % in 60 plus.@NewIndianXpress
    — Sumi Dutta (@SumiSukanya) June 28, 2021

    Under the new policy of Covid vaccination, the Union government is procuring and supplying (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to states and union territories, he was quoted as saying in the statement.

    Till Monday morning (8 am), 32,36,63,297 vaccine doses have been administered in various categories.

    Vardhan also presented a snapshot of India’s efforts to contain COVID-19.

    In the last 24 hours, India had only 46,148 Covid cases, while the active cases significantly declined to 5,72,994, he said.

    The recovery rate has been steadily increasing and stands at 96.80 per cent as on date and 58,578 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours.

    Today is the 46th day in succession where our daily recoveries outnumbered new cases.

    Our case fatality rate has been 1.30 per cent, daily positivity rate at 2.94 per cent and weekly positivity rate also stands at 2.94 per cent, which has been consistently below 5 per cent for 21 days now, Vardhan said.

    The GoM strongly reiterated the importance of Covid-appropriate behaviour, the statement said.

    Higher level of continued awareness building through sustained IEC campaigns was highlighted.

    NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul emphasised on the benefits of mask wearing and hand hygiene.

    Dr Balram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) and Director General (ICMR), also cautioned that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has still not subsided as 80 districts in the country still have high positivity, the statement said.

    He advised against any laxity at this stage and also explained that vaccines have been found effective against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of COVID-19.

    Dr Sujeet K Singh, Director (National Centre for Disease Control), presented a detailed report on the trajectory of Covid in states and UTs.

    He presented a granular analysis based on epidemiological findings of the trajectory of the pandemic in each state pointing out critical parameters like growth of cases, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends like fatality and the variants of COVID-19 driving the infection in the affected states, the statement said.

    Active Covid cases continue to be concentrated mainly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, which are reporting growth rate more than the national COVID-19 growth rate, it said.

    While 19 states are reporting fatality figures in single digit (less than 10), four states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are reporting more than 100 deaths daily.

    Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, apprised the GoM on how issues like vaccine hesitancy are being addressed through different mediums, the statement said.

    Vardhan was joined by Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Nityanand Rai, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health.

  • 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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  • Govt allocates additional vials of Amphotericin-B to states, union territories for black fungus treatment

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government on Monday allocated an additional 1,06,300 vials of Liposomal Amphotericin-B, used to treat black fungus infection, to states, Union Territories (UTs) and central institutions, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda said.

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

    “Ensuring significant availability of Liposomal #Amphotericin B, additional 1,06,300 vials of the drug have been allocated across all the states/UTs and Central institutions today,” the minister of chemicals and fertilisers tweeted.

    He added that another 53,000 vials of conventional Amphotericin-B have been given to states and UTs.

    “A total of 53,000 vials of Conventional #Amphotericin B have also been allocated to all the States/UTs & Central Institutions today,” Gowda said.

    The allocation of the drug is being made to ensure its smooth supply and timely treatment of patients, he added.

    Liposomal formulations are less expensive and have less renal toxicity than simple Amphotericin B.

    Mucormycosis is a very rare infection which is caused by exposure to mucor mould which is commonly found in soil, plants, manure, and decaying fruits and vegetables.

    It affects the sinuses, the brain and the lungs and can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immuno-compromised individuals such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS.

    There have been an alarming number of cases of Mucormycosis among patients with COVID-19 and those who have recently recovered.

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

  • Give info on anti-Mucormycosis drugs allocation: Bombay HC to Centre

    The bench said that the central government must give wide publicity to its advisory on preventing and managing Mucormycosis.

  • 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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  • 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.

  • 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.