PUDUCHERRY: Amidst a surge in Covid-19 cases in Puducherry, mucormycosis, commonly known as black fungus, has affected 20 people in Puducherry so far, throwing up a new challenge in the government’s fight against the virus.
Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Friday said 20 people including a couple of government staff were affected by mucormycosis and receiving treatment.
The territorial administration is in the process of issuing a notification to declare mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, she told reporters after receiving 50 oxygen concentrators from the World Health Organisation at Raj Nivas on Friday
All hospitals have been directed to inform the health department as soon as they received patients with symptoms of the black fungus. She said black fungus was spreading fast in Puducherry and those suffering from the ailment should not take medicines on their own but approach hospitals for treatment.
In the face of this, Liposomal Amphotericin B, a key drug to treat mucormycosis, has become scarce in Puducherry, due to high demand.
Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is also the Governor of Telengana, used her good offices to procure the medicine from Telangana for a patient from Karaikal admitted in JIPMER with black fungus. After JIPMER ran out of stock and the drug was not available in the market, the District Collector of Karaikal requested the Lt Governor, following which she got 10 amphotericin drugs immediately from Telangana to Puducherry and then to JIPMER. She thanked Chief Minister of Telangana Chandrasekara Rao and officials of the Telangana Raj Bhavan for their prompt medical assistance.
The demand for Liposomal Amphotericin B is usually very low as it is used in rare conditions, but now the demand has suddenly shot up due to mucormycosis and the supply is unable to meet the demand, Dr R Venkatesh, Chief Medical Officer, Aravind Eye Hospital, Puducherry told The New Indian Express.
What is worrying is that any delay in treatment of black fungus, either due to delay in medical attention or non-availability of the antifungal drug, would lead to blindness and loss of life, he said.
Among the 14 black fungus cases received by Arvind Eye Hospital, five of them have lost vision in one eye, when they approached the hospital, said Dr Venkatesh. In all these 14 patients, the infection had spread to the eye, which is third stage (late stage) of the disease, that starts in the nose and spreads to the sinus and then to the eye, he said. “Only when the infection is in the nose can we prevent catastrophic complications like blindness and death,” he said. Since these patients need ENT and meuromanagement, they have been referred to JIPMER and multi speciality hospitals with ENT and neuro teams support in Chennai, he said.
"Uncontrolled diabetes and Covid infection both together are a recipe for mucormycosis," he said.
Pain, redness in the eye, headache, facial pain, nasal block, black discharge, black spots in nose, mouth, drooping of eyelids or swelling, double vision and tooth ache are among the warning symptoms that need to be watched.
Meanwhile, the Department of Drug Control, Puducherry has issued a circular to all chemists not to sell Liposomal Amphotericin B without proper prescription. All the retailers and wholesalers are required to supply the subject drug only based on the prescription and appropriate verification of the data. Further, all the licence holders are required to update the details of the stock position to the department through mail at ddc.pon@gmail.com, said the circular.