Deadly coronavirus-triggered fungal infection reported in India

By Yaron Steinbuch

Spores of the Mucormycosis fungus Universal Images Group via Getty Images

India has experienced a disturbing outbreak of a coronavirus-triggered fungal infection, which has a mortality rate of almost 50 percent — and can lead to blindness and the removal of the nose and jaw, according to local reports.

The Gujarat Health Department has issued an advisory about the condition, called mucormycosis, which has been reported among COVID-19 patients in Ahmedabad and Rajkot, the Indian Express reported.

“Mucormycosis is a type of fungal disease which infects those with compromised immune system, and with other existing diseases, is a serious infection with a mortality rate of nearly 50 percent,” the advisory said.

Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, a major private facility in Delhi that treats people from across Southeast Asia, have reported more than a dozen cases of the fungus, according to the news outlet.

The black fungus mucormycosis — previously called zygomycosi — is a rare but serious infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes, which exist in the environment.

The condition mainly affects people who have health problems or are on medication that lowers the body’s ability to ward off germs.

“The frequency with which we are witnessing the occurrence of COVID- triggered mucormycosis with high morbidity and mortality is alarming,” Dr. Manish Munjal, a senior otolaryngologist at the hospital, told the Indian Express.

“Early clinical suspicion on symptoms such as nose obstruction, swelling in the eye or cheeks, and black dry crusts in the nose should immediately prompt a biopsy and start of the antifungal therapy as early as possible,” he added.

Symptoms include pain, face numbness, nasal obstruction and swelling of eyes, according to the report. If the infection reaches the lungs, symptoms may include fever, cough, chest pain and shortness of breath.

Skin mucormycosis can look like blisters or ulcers and the infected area may turn black. A gastrointestinal mucormycosis may be indicated by abdominal pain, vomiting and bleeding.