Doctor Ajay Swaroop, Chairman, ENT Department, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, said on September 3 that the hospital has not got any active case of Mucormycosis of late.
He said: “We are not getting any active cases of Mucormycosis right now. Now we are seeing old cases that either have residual disease or patients coming with disease in one area that was treated and now they have developed black fungus in another area.”
Dr Swaroop added: “So, these are types of cases we are seeing now. We are also getting patients from smaller centres. Now that they have suffered a lot, they have moved out because transportation is now much easier. Fortunately, we are not seeing active cases of Mucormycosis.”
Read: Black Fungus Mucormycosis Infection: What it is, symptoms, preventive methods, and more
He added: “The reason why patients are coming back can be 1) They have not taken the full course of medicine, 2) They have not come for post-operative follow-ups and the slightest amount of fungus that might have remained started growing again, 3) The fungus has shifted or skipped from nose or sinuses to other sides.”
A total of 45,432 cases of Black Fungus infections had been reported in India till July 15; 4,252 of the cases were fatal. Most Mucormycosis patients (84.4 percent) had a history of COVID-19.
The sudden spurt in Mucormycosis cases was seen as a possible fallout of overuse of steroids on COVID-19 patients during the outbreak of the catastrophic second wave of the pandemic.
(With agency inputs)
