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Black fungus baffles NBMCH doctors
According to Prof Saha, the facility will be available once the proposed super-specialty block is functional.
Sankha Ghosh | Siliguri | June 12, 2021 6:28 pm
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“According to our observations, mucormycosis cases in bigger volume are now found in India. It is not easy to say what is leading to the sudden surge of the cases in the past few weeks. Rational use of steroids is advised to check mucormycosis, but the disease is also being detected among Covid patients who did not use steroids at all. The steroids are also used for the treatment of patients suffering from diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and nephrotic syndrome. However, the trend of mucormycosis is not found there. On the other hand, there are patients suffering from the disease here who have not been infected with Covid-19. Therefore, I would like to call the situation a scientific dilemma,” said Dr Smarajit Banik of the department of medicine.
Mucormycosis is a fungal infection mostly found in patients with compromised immune systems. While there has been an outbreak of the infection among Covid-19 patients, it was prevalent even before the pandemic, experts have said. NBMCH principal Prof Indrajit Saha said mucormycosis had been detected also among persons who had received Covid treatment under home isolation, and were not admitted in hospitals.
“It has been observed that contamination of oxygen humidifiers in hospitals may also be reasons for the mucormycosis, but the disease is also showing in patients who were never admitted in hospitals and remained in home isolation without oxygen support,” Prof Saha said. One the other hand, being one of the ‘regional hubs’ for the management of recalcitrant mucormycosis cases, the NBMCH needs to create the infrastructure for plastic surgery, as the surgical debridement is the key to controlling and eliminating mucormycosis, the doctors said...
Black fungus baffles NBMCH doctors
According to Prof Saha, the facility will be available once the proposed super-specialty block is functional.
Sankha Ghosh | Siliguri | June 12, 2021 6:28 pm
...
“According to our observations, mucormycosis cases in bigger volume are now found in India. It is not easy to say what is leading to the sudden surge of the cases in the past few weeks. Rational use of steroids is advised to check mucormycosis, but the disease is also being detected among Covid patients who did not use steroids at all. The steroids are also used for the treatment of patients suffering from diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and nephrotic syndrome. However, the trend of mucormycosis is not found there. On the other hand, there are patients suffering from the disease here who have not been infected with Covid-19. Therefore, I would like to call the situation a scientific dilemma,” said Dr Smarajit Banik of the department of medicine.
Mucormycosis is a fungal infection mostly found in patients with compromised immune systems. While there has been an outbreak of the infection among Covid-19 patients, it was prevalent even before the pandemic, experts have said. NBMCH principal Prof Indrajit Saha said mucormycosis had been detected also among persons who had received Covid treatment under home isolation, and were not admitted in hospitals.
“It has been observed that contamination of oxygen humidifiers in hospitals may also be reasons for the mucormycosis, but the disease is also showing in patients who were never admitted in hospitals and remained in home isolation without oxygen support,” Prof Saha said. One the other hand, being one of the ‘regional hubs’ for the management of recalcitrant mucormycosis cases, the NBMCH needs to create the infrastructure for plastic surgery, as the surgical debridement is the key to controlling and eliminating mucormycosis, the doctors said...