Black Fungus | Eyes of 3 children infected with Mucormycosis removed in Mumbai

Three children, aged 4, 6 and 14 years old had to undergo surgery to keep the infection from spreading. Out of the three only the 14 year-old had diabetes.

Moneycontrol News

June 17, 2021 / 20:54 IST

(Image: News18 Creative)

The eyes of three children who were infected with Black Fungus or Mucormycosis had to be removed surgically. All three children were admitted to Mumbai hospitals, NDTV has reported.

The three children, aged four, six, and 14 years, had to undergo surgery to keep the infection from spreading. Out of the three, only the 14-year-old had diabetes. Another child, a 16-year-old, became diabetic after recovering from SARS-CoV-2; doctors had found Black Fungus spreading near her stomach.

The non-diabetic children were admitted to Mumbai's KBH Bachooali Ophthalmic and ENT Hospital and the 14-year-old was admitted to Fortis Hospital.

"We saw two girls infected with Black Fungus in the second wave (of COVID-19). Both were diabetic. After she came to us (the 14-year-old), one of her eyes turned black within 48 hours. The fungus was spreading to the nose too. Luckily, it did not reach the brain. We treated her for six weeks; unfortunately, she lost her eye," said Dr Jesal Sheth, Senior Consultant Paediatrician at Fortis Hospital told NDTV.

Also Read: COVID-19 | Here's what we know about fungal infections that develop after the disease

Speaking about the 16-year-old who had developed diabetes a month after recovering from COVID-19, Dr Sheth said: "She was healthy a month ago. She had recovered from COVID-19 and was not diabetic. But she came to us with diabetes suddenly. Her intestines started bleeding. We did an angiography and found that Black Fungus had infected blood vessels near her stomach."

Dr Prithesh Shetty, who was treating the four and six-year-old patients at Mumbai's KBH Bachooali Ophthalmic and ENT Hospital said: "Black Fungus was spreading in their eyes and if we had not removed the eyes, their lives would have been in danger. They were already blind in one eye and it was hurting them badly. One child came to us in December last year. The second case came during the second wave."

Notably, COVID-19 patients with high diabetes, whose immune response has weakened due to over intake of steroids, are more prone to contracting Mucormycosis. Treatment for the condition includes drugs such as amphotericin B or posaconazole, both of which are readily available.