India asks states to declare epidemic; A new contagious disease has reached Russia

India asks states to declare epidemic; A new contagious disease has reached Russia

The dangerous fungus began to spread throughout Indian hospitals among COVID-19 patients, due to their overcrowded facilities as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, but also due to poor hygiene and poor health conditions. Just to reiterate, India broke all records in terms of the number of deaths and the number of infected based on monitoring daily figures.

So many people were dying that the authorities had no choice but to burn them on the streets of the cities, and some local authorities had to throw the bodies into the river. The health care system is collapsing because even those few equipped hospitals have not been able to take over all cases for a long time. Because of that, images of horror came from that most populous country - hundreds of people left on the streets, waiting for help. Many died waiting.

In a letter from Thursday, the Ministry of Health of India called on the states to declare the infection, officially referred to as mucormycosis, an epidemic according to the Epidemiological Diseases Act of 1897 and to introduce the obligation to report to health services all suspected cases of "black fungus".

The letter states that the disease caused by the "black fungus" leads to an even greater number of deaths in patients infected with coronavirus.

Symptoms of the disease

Symptoms of infection from this dangerous and contagious fungus can include facial swelling and black lesions, while black fungus has a fatality rate of around 54%, according to the American Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the US.

Thousands of cases of black fungus have been recorded all over India. Infection enters the body through the bloodstream, through a cut or any type of opening in the skin, or through the respiratory system. It then spreads to the heart, brain and lungs, as well as other vital organs. Black fungus has taken a particularly hard toll on those who have already recovered from COVID-19, proving particularly deadly to the most vulnerable.

Experts have alleged that the infection could be spreading through the use of steroids for COVID-19 patients, as well as through inadequate hygienic conditions in hospitals.

To make matters worse, doctors and health officials have been warning of a shortage of the amphotericin B antifungal drug, which is required to treat infections of black fungus.

It has already reached Russia

Russia has registered cases of a rare and deadly fungal infection that affects patients who have or have recovered from COVID-19, and which is on the rise in India, affected by the devastating wave of coronavirus.

So far, there have been only individual cases of this disease, officially referred to as mucormycosis, in patients with COVID-19 - "Izvestia" clinical mycology expert Nikolai Klimko said, noting that further infections cannot be ruled out.