Black Fungus Declared Notifiable Disease in Tamil Nadu

Nine people including seven diabetic patients are found to have Mucormycosis (Black Fungus) in Tamil Nadu, following this the state is incorporating a 10-member Mucormycosis committee comprising deans, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) and doctors from various departments, including ENT, diabetology, microbiology and medicine. Tamil Nadu Health Secretary said, “Nine people have Mucormycosis in the state. Of the nine, seven patients are diabetic while the remaining two patients do not have diabetics. Some have infections in their eyes and treatment has been started for all them. There is no death reported till now”.

Mucormycosis is a fungal infection in which sinuses or lungs are affected after fungal spores in the air are inhaled. Though the infection is present even before COVID-19 infection, now there is significant increase in cases of ‘COVID19 associated Mucormycosis (CAM)’ resulting in panic among public.

This is due to broadly two reasons: in Covid-19 patients who have severe diabetes, the risk of fungal infection is high; and due to the indiscriminate use of steroids in the treatment for Covid-19.

Already the Health Ministry has made the infection notifiable under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 With several parts of the country reporting a surge in the supplementary fungal infection Mucormycosis in Covid-19 patients.

Considering the nature of infection, Tamil Nadu has declared this as a notifiable disease to make mandatory for all hospitals to report all cases of Mucormycosis to the Director of Public Health.



Source-Medindia