The Maharashtra government has decided to use hospitals attached to medical colleges as treatment centres for Mucormycosis, a serious but rare fungal infection now affecting coronavirus patients, said health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday.
Symptoms of Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, include headache, fever, pain under the eyes, nasal or sinus congestion and partial loss of vision.
He said, “There could be over 2,000 Mucormycosis patients in the state as of now and with more and more COVID- 19 cases coming up, their number would increase for sure.”
The state government has decided to select hospitals attached to medical colleges for treatment of Mucormycosis patients as it demands a multidisciplinary approach, Tope said.
Tope added that black fungus has a mortality rate of 50% and is detected in coronavirus patients patients with comorbidities or suppressed immunity, according to PTI.
The minister said that since mucormycosis patients have to be examined by several specialists, the government has decided to rope in hospitals attached to medical colleges for treating the disease.
The Maharashtra health minister said that the government will cover the cost of mucormycosis treatment under its health insurance scheme, The Times of India reported.
Tope added that the state government will also decide on capping the prices of medicines used to treat mucormycosis. “The main antifungal drug, Amphotericin B, is expensive, and it may be difficult for people to bear the cost,” he said, according to the newspaper. The medicine costs between between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 per vial.
Eight recovered Covid-19 patients have died in Maharashtra after developing the fungal infection. More than 100 patients with it are being treated in Gujarat.
Last week, the Gujarat government had announced that all government-run hospitals reporting incidents of mucormycosis will set up separate wards to treat the infection.
One of the potential causes of the fungal infection is reportedly the use of steroids for Covid-19 treatment, which increases blood sugar levels.
Steroids reduce inflammation in the lungs for Covid-19 and the body’s immune system goes into overdrive to fight off the virus. However, they also may reduce immunity and push up blood sugar levels in both diabetic and non-diabetic Covid-19 patients, according to doctors quoted by the BBC. The drop in immunity might then exacerbate the “black fungus”.