Mumbai just two cases away from becoming mucormycosis-free

One of two mucormycosis patients is undergoing treatment at KEM Hospital. File pic

Mumbai is finally about to be free of mucormycosis - a rare fungal infection, also known as black fungus, which saw a sudden rise during the second wave of COVID-19 in recovered patients - with only two active cases remaining in the city. As per data provided by the state health department, there were 739 cases in Mumbai city and 237 cases in the suburbs so far.

Subhod Kumar (name changed), 37, is one of the two active patients and is undergoing treatment at RN Cooper Hospital. Dr Vinod Geete, ENT surgeon and associate professor at the hospital, said, "It's been around 15 days since he was admitted. He has to stay for at least 2-3 weeks." Dr Geete added, "In the third wave, we witnessed fewer cases of mucormycosis compared to the second wave. Most of the patients come with complaints of swollen eyes, face, nose bleeding."

The other patient is undergoing treatment at KEM Hospital and the officials did not disclose the details.

Dr Neelam Sathe, associate professor and head of the ENT and throat surgery department at KEM Hospital, said, "One cannot solely blame COVID for mucormycosis infection. Due to COVID, a patient's immunity gets low and diabetes level shoots up. Many of the patients were also on steroids during COVID treatment, which also leads to an increase in blood sugar level. All of these factors make a favourable condition for the fungus to grow in the body. So people with low immunity and diabetes need to be more cautious."

Of the total of 976 mucormycosis patients in the city and suburbs, 770 recovered and two succumbed to the infection. In the remaining 202 cases, the patients have died while undergoing treatment for both COVID-19 and mucormycosis.

"In the first wave, a number of senior citizens were infected. Their immunity was compromised as many of them were comorbid too, with diabetes, hypertension, cardiac issues, etc. So they got infected with black fungus. In the second wave, the COVID strain was more aggressive and infected a lot of young people, leading to mucormycosis among them too. I have treated around 120 mucormycosis patients. We mostly have to operate and remove the part of the body where the infection took place as it runs the chance of spreading to other parts of the body and leading to more complications," said Dr Sathe.

Dr Amol Patil, senior ENT consultant at Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, said "Mucormycosis outbreak was one of the most devastating after-effects of COVID-19, excessive medication and its direct impact on the body's immune system. During the second wave, lethal fungal infections such as mucormycosis and other bacterial infections had become common among COVID recovered patients.

"We successfully treated about 35 cases of mucormycosis during 2020-21. Most patients were within the age group of 30-50 years, had a history of COVID infection, and came with a sinus infection. In patients with advanced infection, we observed eye involvement causing vision loss and spread of the infection to the brain, with life-threatening sequelae," he said.

Dr Patil added, "We have witnessed a substantial dip in mucormycosis cases since the past two months, which may be attributed to the relatively less aggressive Omicron variant and disciplined line of treatment. Maharashtra has already taken a welcoming decision to declare Mucormycosis as a notifiable disease. As early detection is the key to treating the infection, this move will keep the infection under the scanner of policymakers and medical institutions and patients will have easy access to the drugs and better treatment."

976
No. of mucormycosis cases in the city and suburbs so far