World

The 'black fungus' maiming COVID patients in India

May 9, 2021 5:05 pm

Mucor mould is found in soil, plants, manure and decaying fruits. [Source: BBC]

On Saturday morning, Dr Akshay Nair, a Mumbai-based eye surgeon, was waiting to operate on a 25-year-old woman who had recovered from a bout of COVID-19 three weeks ago.

Inside the surgery, an ear, nose and throat specialist was already at work on the patient, a diabetic.

He had inserted a tube in her nose and was removing tissues infected with mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection. This aggressive infection affects the nose, eye and sometimes the brain.

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After his colleague finished, Dr Nair would carry out a three hour procedure to remove the patient’s eye.

Even as a deadly second wave of COVID-19 ravages India, doctors are now reporting a rash of cases involving a rare infection – also called the “black fungus” – among recovering and recovered COVID-19 patients.