What was a rare disease in India has now become familiar across the country. Mucormycosis or Black Fungus Infection is the talk of the nation as the lesser-known life-threatening disease has now reported a sudden resurgence across the country leaving the governments to expeditely study the measures to tackle the infection and to battle the distressing menace along with the COVID-19 viral infection. 

The experts attribute the resurgence of the Black Fungus Infection to the severity of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several states in India are reporting cases of Mucormycosis, which is caused by the fungus Mucor. People can get infected by the fungal disease if they come in contact with the black fungus spores in the environment and their immediate ambience. 

With the growing number of cases as the fungal disease is equally dangerous as the pandemic, the Indian government has directed all the states to declare Mucormycosis as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act. The scale of the infection is surging day by day and it also has been claiming several lives across the country. With the view of tackle the fungal disease, the governments are procuring Amphotericin-B injection as the treatment. 

The experts say that people who are tested positive and recovered from the COVID-19 viral infection and people who are suffering from diabetes mellitus are largely susceptible to the black fungus infection. According to official data, the infection can also develop in the skin after the fungus enters the skin through a cut, abrasion, burn, or other types of injuries. 

The doctors say that such skin injuries must be get treated in time and though the fungal infection is not a human-to-human transmitting disease like COVID-19, the disease has to be treated in time. According to reports, the symptoms of the black fungus infection include Nasal blockage, facial or cheekbone pain, discolouration of the nose, congestion or redness, and swelling of the eyes, and impaired vision. 

Some of the other symptoms include headache, seizures, fever, cough, shortness of breath with worsening respiratory problem, toothache, and loosening of teeth.  As COVID-19 patients are more susceptible to Mucormycosis, the doctors have prescribed the measures to the COVID-19 patients to prevent themselves from the black fungus infection.

Doctors advise that the COVID-19 patients must control their sugar levels during battling the pandemic and they must exercise judicious use of steroids with the correct dose and correct duration. The doctors suggest the patients use clean and sterile water for humidifiers during the oxygen therapy. According to reports, people are also urged to use masks while visiting grubby places and they should wear shoes and gloves while handling garden soil and other places deem fit. More importantly, the COVID-19 patients must not use a use-and-throw mask for more than a day. They should dispose the used masks daily and in case of a reusable mask, they should wash it regularly and must dry it before using it again. 

The doctors had also advised diabetic people to maintain personal hygiene and seek immediate medical attention if they develop the symptoms of the fungus infection and they should stay off from any moisture places. On Saturday, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Sadananda Gowda said that nearly 9,000 people have been infected with the Black Fungus infection across the country. He further said the central government has sent over 23,000 vials of a drug to the affected states to treat the black fungus infection.