Cases of the deadly “black fungus” have grown in India over the last few days, hitting above the 10,000 mark, according to CNN.
Indian health officials said case of the “black fungus” — a disease called mucormycosis, which is a rare deadly infection that has been found among India’s COVID-19 patients — are rising fast.
- “We started seeing it all of a sudden from the second week of May and within 15 days it has reached 10,000 cases,” said Mansukh Mandaviya, the country’s minister of chemicals and fertilizers, according to CNN.
To make matters worse, some states in India have a shortage of the Amphotericin B drug, which can help treat the “black fungus.”
- “If a disease spreads so much and with such speed, India did not have that much (required) medicine production,” Mandaviya said, according to CNN.
Reports of the “black fungus” surfaced back in the beginning of May. India health officials said the infection “can disfigure facial features and even kill,” according to Bloomberg.
- When it is left untreated, it “can lead to loss of vision, and in some cases, increase the risk of mortality,” according to India Today.
The “black fungus” has emerged as the India health care system has been stretched to its limit due to the recent COVID-19 surge. The country has had to use medical equipment so consistently that the “black fungus” has begun to flow through oxygen tubes, as I wrote for the Deseret News.