New Delhi, Beritasatu.com– SARS-CoV-2 infection and Covid-19 treatment leave the immune system vulnerable to other infections, including black fungus. With the increase in black fungus cases, India is facing a lack of care in the face of two epidemics.
As reported medicalnewstoday.com, Wednesday (26/5/2021), Covid-19 causes a weakened immune system, preventing the body from effectively protecting against infection. As a result, individuals who recover from Covid-19 are at risk of developing mucormycosis.
“The virus, as part of its replication cycle, suppresses the immune system so that it can’t clean up other bacteria or fungi. The best-known example of this is HIV, of course, which causes long-term immune suppression. But other viruses do this on a much shorter time scale – that is, the immune system is only slightly suppressed for the few days or weeks that the virus is there, “Christopher Coleman, assistant professor of infectious immunology at the University of Nottingham in the UK, told Medical News Today.
Steroid treatment for Covid-19 can also act to suppress the immune response, contributing to an increase in the rate of this mucormycosis infection.
“In this case, there seems to be a suggestion that steroids may play a role – in that they suppress the normal immune response and allow the fungus to attack,” Coleman said.
Mucormycosis, or black fungus, is a rare but serious infection that requires treatment or surgical removal. Mucormycosis is a rare type of fungal infection that occurs through exposure to a fungus called mucormycetes. This fungus is commonly found in the environment, especially in leaves, soil, compost, and animal manure. Mucormycetes can enter the body through breathing, inhaling, and opening wounds in the skin.
India has been facing high levels of Covid-19, with more than 27 million confirmed cases since January 2020. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that variant B.1.617 of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in India is a “variant of global attention.”
Some scientists believe that severe Covid-19 has the potential to weaken the immune response. This can increase susceptibility to other infections, especially for people with weakened immune systems.
Of particular concern is an infection called mucormycosis, commonly referred to as black fungus. In India, 90 people who recovered from Covid-19 died from mucormycosis, and there have been calls from Indian health authorities to declare an epidemic of mucormycosis.
Mucormycosis is not contagious, and most people who come in contact with the fungus do not develop an infection. However, people with extremely weak immune systems are at an increased risk of mucormycosis. They include people with diabetes, cancer, HIV, and skin injuries and surgery.
The higher incidence of mucormycosis in India is due to a combination of factors. For example, more than 30 million people in India have a diabetes diagnosis. However, the number of cases of mucormycosis before the Covid-19 pandemic was relatively low, even though the prevalence was increasing.
However, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a dramatic increase.
“I have seen more cases of black fungus in the last week than we normally deal with in 2 years,” said Arvinder Singh Soin, a pioneer surgeon in New Delhi.
According to a trusted source from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), doctors can treat the infection by administering antifungal drugs or performing surgery to remove the affected area. Left untreated, mucormycosis can be fatal, with a mortality rate of 54%.
Source: BeritaSatu.com
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