AHMEDABAD: The fight for survival has gotten tougher for coronavirus patients and doctors report an alarming incidence of mucormycosis, a rare and serious fungal infection with a 50% death rate, that takes advantage of struggling patients against Covid-19 or those that recently recovered. Ahmedabad-based eye trauma and retina surgeon Dr Parth Rana has reported mucormycosis in five men suffering from coronavirus, in which two patients died and two survived with vision loss.
Four of them were between 34 and 47 years old, while the fifth was a 67-year-old man from Bhuj who was rushed to Ahmedabad in critical condition on Friday evening. All reported enlarged eyeballs sticking out of their sockets.
“They all had a history of uncontrolled diabetes and were taking powerful medications, including steroids. His immunity was very low. We believe that these conditions led to the rapid spread of the infection, ”Dr. Rana said, adding that prior to the pandemic, mucormycosis took between 15 and 30 days to spread. In these cases, however, it took only two or three days. Leading infectious disease specialist Dr. Atul Patel, who was part of a national study on mucormycosis, had previously noted the increasing incidence of yeast infection in coronavirus patients. “We have registered 19 cases of mucormycosis in patients recovered by Covid-19 in the last three months. This is 4.5 times greater than the conventionally reported burden before the pandemic, ”he said.
Poor control of diabetes, use of high doses of steroids, and compromised immunity in general due to immune dysregulation and hyperinflammation in Covid-19 patients have made them more vulnerable to deadly fungal infection, added Dr. Patel.
Four of them were between 34 and 47 years old, while the fifth was a 67-year-old man from Bhuj who was rushed to Ahmedabad in critical condition on Friday evening. All reported enlarged eyeballs sticking out of their sockets.
“They all had a history of uncontrolled diabetes and were taking powerful medications, including steroids. His immunity was very low. We believe that these conditions led to the rapid spread of the infection, ”Dr. Rana said, adding that prior to the pandemic, mucormycosis took between 15 and 30 days to spread. In these cases, however, it took only two or three days. Leading infectious disease specialist Dr. Atul Patel, who was part of a national study on mucormycosis, had previously noted the increasing incidence of yeast infection in coronavirus patients. “We have registered 19 cases of mucormycosis in patients recovered by Covid-19 in the last three months. This is 4.5 times greater than the conventionally reported burden before the pandemic, ”he said.
Poor control of diabetes, use of high doses of steroids, and compromised immunity in general due to immune dysregulation and hyperinflammation in Covid-19 patients have made them more vulnerable to deadly fungal infection, added Dr. Patel.
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