Mucormycosis or Black Fungus | Infothora
Mucormycosis / Black fungus is a disease we hear nowadays along with COVID-19. This disease is being detected among patients who are recovered or are recovering from covid. Black fungus is not a new fungal disease.
The first human case was reported in 1855, a case of mucormycosis in a patient with a neoplastic lung.
What is Mucormycosis / Black fungus?
Mucormycosis or black fungus is a terrible and complicated fungal infection. It is caused by exposure to mucor mould that's usually found in soil, plants, manure, and decaying fruits and vegetables. It may develop on the skin when the fungus enters through a cut, scrape, burn, or different varieties of skin trauma. It affects the sinuses, the brain, and also the lungs and can be critical in diabetic or severely immunocompromised patients, such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS. It primarily affects those who are on medication for different health issues that reduce their immunity. Those who are using steroids are more likely to be infected.
Steroids are a biologically active organic compound that use to scale back inflammation. This can be a lifesaving treatment for severe and critically unwell covid -19 patients. It reduces inflammation within the lungs for patients and appears to assist stop some of the harm that may happen once the body's immune system goes into overdrive to fight off coronavirus. However, they additionally scale back immunity and push up glucose levels in both diabetics and non-diabetic Covid-19 patients. And this fall in immunity may be triggering mucormycosis.
What are the common symptoms of Mucormycosis?
Mucormycosis begins to manifest as skin infection within the air
pockets situated behind our forehead, nose, cheekbones, and in between the eyes
and teeth. It then spreads to the eyes, lungs and may even spread to the brain.
Symptoms include:
- Pain
and redness around eyes and nose
- Blackening or discoloration over the nose
- Blurred or double vision
- Chest pain
- Fever
- Headache
- Coughing
- Shortness
of breath
- Bloody
vomits
- Altered
mental status
How to diagnose mucormycosis?
If an indication of mucormycosis happens, it should be treated as a medical emergency and clinical diagnosing should be carried out at once and also the patient should undergo an appropriate radio-imaging study.
- MRI PNS (paranasal sinuses) with brain contrast study for RCOM
- Plain CT Thorax for pulmonary mucormycosis
Treatment of Covid-associated Mucormycosis
Early detected Mucormycosis patients are often treated with proper antifungal treatment. Surgeries may require getting rid of necrotic material on the skin of some patients.
How to prevent Mucormycosis?
- Wear masks when in contact with an unclean atmosphere
- Maintain personal hygiene
- The disease can be managed by controlling diabetes, discontinuing immunomodulating medicines, reducing steroids, and extensive surgical debridement- to get rid of all necrotic materials, according to the advisory.
2. Chander, Jagdish (2018). "26. Mucormycosis". Textbook of Medical Mycology (4th ed.).
3. Walsh McDermott, Russell La Fayette Cecil, Textbook of Medicine, Volume 1.
4. Symptoms of Mucormycosis". www.cdc.gov.
5. When and how to suspect Covid-19 associated Mucormycosis www.indianexpress.com
6. People at Risk For Mucormycosis and prevention". www.cdc.gov.
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