Black Fungus declared notified disease in Haryana, says Health Minister Anil Vij

File image of Haryana minister and BJP leader Anil Vij

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on May 15 said the state has declared black fungus a notified disease. He further said that now doctors will have to report to chief medical officers of the district of any black fungus case detected.

Also Read: Mucormycosis fungal infections maiming COVID-19 survivors in India: All you need to know about this 'black fungus'

Senior doctors at Post-Graduate Institute Rohtak will conduct a video conference with all doctors of the state dealing with the coronavirus pandemic about the treatment of the black fungus.

Follow our LIVE blog for latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic
"Black Fungus declared Notified Disease in Haryana. Now Doctors will report to CMOs of the District of any Black Fungus case detected. Post Graduate Institute Rohtak Senior Doctors will conduct a video conference with all Doctors of the State dealing Corona about its treatment," Anil Vij said in a tweet.

Black Fungus declared Notified Disease in Haryana. Now Doctors will report to CMOs of the District of any Black Fungus case detected. Post Graduate Institute Rohtak Senior Doctors will conduct a video conference with all Doctors of the State dealing Corona about its treatment.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more

Show

Related stories

• 
  New generation drugs for cholesterol, fatty liver & kidney disease, and what they promise
• 
  Tradition to tariffs: How India’s gold import tripled ahead of wedding season, defying record pric...
• 
  Tea, coffee, spices: The Indian products Trump has exempted from 50% tariffs

— ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) May 15, 2021

Also Read: COVID-19 treatment: Centre to boost availability of Amphotericin B to fight mucormycosis aka black fungus

Also Read: A quick guide to Mucormycosis — the life-threatening fungal infection in COVID-19 patients

“A state-level committee of doctors should be constituted to monitor the condition of such patients in all the districts of the state and also identify other patients who may be afflicted with it and start their treatment at the earliest."

“Also, the Haryana government should bear the entire cost of treatment and medicines for the patients suffering from black fungus,” the Congress leader said in a statement.

A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities. The collation of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), mucormycosis is a fungal infection that mainly affects people who are on medication for other health problems that reduce their ability to fight environmental pathogens. Sinuses or lungs of such individuals get affected after fungal spores are inhaled from the air.

Treatment for the condition includes drugs such as amphotericin B or posaconazole, both of which are readily available.

Recently, several states have flagged cases of COVID-triggered mucormycosis, especially among patients who are diabetic. Till now, mucormycosis/black fungus has been reported in the state of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttarakhand.

Earlier this month, Niti Aayog member (health) V K Paul had ruled out an outbreak of COVID-triggered mucormycosis and said that the situation was being monitored.

Meanwhile, Haryana reported 10,608 new COVID-19 cases and 164 deaths in the past 24 hours on May 14.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.