Black Fungus declared an epidemic in India

Alejo

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I think this may have been mentioned elsewhere on the forum, if so then perhaps this post may be merged, but I have come across this news item since at least December and today as I did my news round up I saw the following:

‘Black fungus’ declared an epidemic in Jammu & Kashmir as India battles deadly infection​

Jammu and Kashmir has become the latest union territory in India to declare black fungus an epidemic, as cases of the coronavirus-linked infection continue to rise.
The territory declared mucormycosis – more commonly known as “black fungus” – to be an epidemic on Monday under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897.
Here's the real interesting part in my view:
Black fungus spreads through the bloodstream and respiratory system via cuts and inhalation and can cause facial swelling and black lesions, with a fatality rate of around 54%.
“Earlier I used to come across just a few cases every year but the current infection rate is frightening,” he said.
Nearly 9,000 cases of black fungus have been recorded in India, according to Federal Minister Sadananda Gowda, while reports say more than 250 people have died.

And from this article:

The infection enters through the bloodstream via a cut or through the respiratory system via the nose, and can then spread to the heart, the brain, and the lungs. Symptoms can include facial swelling and black lesions, and mucormycosis has a fatality rate of around 54%.

I did not see it defined in those articles, but I did see definition in Spanish SOTT which I have translated as follows:

The disease usually occurs in patients with some form of immunodeficiency. It is caused by exposure to mold that is usually found in soil, compost, plants, as well as decaying fruits and vegetables. For their part, Indian physicians now consider it to be a postcovid complication.

Perhaps I am wrong on my assumption, or I may be missing data, but wouldn't forcing people to wear masks all day, even in their own homes, cause mold to grown in said masks and thus be inhaled by people who's immune systems are deficient by the lack of exposure to the outside world, and the mask wearing, be a far better cause for the black fungus epidemic than simply "post covid complications"? And then I was reminded of the following:

(L) Lemme ask: Is the brain damage from low oxygen causing the death of neurons?

A: Yes

Q: (L) And the lowering of health is because of the accumulation of viral and other pathogen loads in the masks themselves?

A: Yes

Q: (Gaby) Could they also reactivate latent or stealth infections?

A: Yes
 
‘Black fungus’
Interesting that 'Black' is part of the name, but perhaps that is making too much out of this new issue.
(Gaby) Or could it be more like... Ya know, it's the spike protein that is produced that is like HIV and also endogenous retroviruses that are already resident in our DNA that could be activated and behave like a Black Death. Or could it be something more like we'll be seeing a lot more cancer, for example?

A: Think something more like Black Death.
I wonder how they are going to handle all the diseases, they will end up with and would like to screen and quarantine people for. One is going to need a Covid passport and a Black Fungus passport and ...
 
There are few more details (some overlap with those posted above) to be found in the article posted in full below:

- it seems to be effecting men more than women, with 78.9% of those effected being men (see this article about male and female immune reactions to coronavirus. Women are more likely to suffer 'long' covid)
- black fungus sufferers seem to be those who have recovered from coronavirus
- They're saying that mortality rate was 30%
- diabetes along with other comorobidities seem to be a factor
- 82 of 101 cases were in India
- 59% of cases were reported among patients in the hospital and 41% among discharged patients.
- 80% were afflicted with pre-existing diabetes mellitus
- Cases went up 2.5 times across 16 centres in India between September and December of last year - is this a seasonal effect or something to do with lockdowns/restrictions? Something else?
- 80 times higher (0.14 per 1,000) in India compared to developed countries
- Another study suggests 'the unholy trinity of diabetes, rampant use of corticosteroids coupled with Covid-19 infections' contributed to the surge of cases

Another article came to mind, which is the incidence of Covid and smokers in India. In the article posted below, they don't mention the rate of BF sufferers and whether they smoke, that would be interesting to know and i would think the data is likely recorded in the studies:

Regarding its presence in soil, i would think that there are a number of pathogens in soil and the reason it's problematic now is because of a lowered immune system. Although it could also be partly related to a change in environmental conditions? I'm thinking about this article: US: Deadly 'brain-eating amoeba' has expanded its range northward -- Sott.net


Black fungus cases surge in India, mostly in patients who recovered from coronavirus




Sneha Mordani
India Today
Sun, 23 May 2021 23:01 UTC



black fungus
© PTI
Doctors performing a Diagnostic Nasal Endoscopy to detect black fungus in a patient at a hospital in Jabalpur on Saturday
A study on black fungus involving 210 patients found that antibiotics were used to treat 100 per cent of these Covid-19 patients, who were later diagnosed with mucormycosis. Antiobiotics - Azithromycin, Doxycycline and Carbapenems - being prescribed for Covid patients in India, are known to increase the risk of fungal infections.

Authored by Dr VP Pandey, head of medicine at the state-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in MP's Indore, the study also reveals that steroids were used in the treatment of only 14 per cent of the respondents.

While attributing the surge in cases of mucormycosis to the disproportionate use of steroids in Covid treatment, the Health Ministry is scaling up anti-fungal treatment to deal with the epidemic.

Mucormycosis or black fungus has emerged as a cause for concern, with a number of states declaring it an epidemic. Nearly 9,000 confirmed cases of the rare disease have been reported from across the country, mostly in recovered Covid-19 patients.

'78.9 per cent of mucormycosis patients were men'


A separate study on black fungus indicates that mortality among patients of mucormycosis was 30 per cent. Dr Anoop Mishra, a co-author of the study, says this is much less than 50-60 per cent as reported earlier.
black fungus
© PTI
A doctor checking a black fungus patient at a hospital in Hyderabad on Saturday
"In this paper, we have collated data on all the cases of mucormycosis in the world starting from the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic," said Dr Mishra. Out of the 101 cases of black fungus analysed for the paper, 82 were from India.

The study also found that 78.9 per cent of mucormycosis patients were men. In addition, 59 per cent of the cases of black fungus were reported among patients in the hospital and 41 per cent among discharged patients.


Comment:
This is interesting considering the different impact coronavirus - and other infections - have on men and women: Sex differences in immune responses to viral infection


Diabetes - black fungus

According to the study conducted by Dr VP Pandey, 21 per cent of the 210 black fungus patients were not even diabetic.

Diabetes, along with other comorbidities, has been identified as another common factor among mucormycosis patients.




black fungus
© PTI
Doctors treating a black fungus patient at a hospital in Jabalpur on Saturday
Similarly, the study published by Dr Anoop Mishra and his team indicates that 80 per cent of black fungus patients were afflicted with pre-existing diabetes mellitus (DM).

At the same time, only 14.9 per cent of the 101 patients had concomitant diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). What is interesting is that 20 per cent of the patients infected with black fungus were not even diabetic, as per the study titled 'Mucormycosis in COVID-19: A systematic review of cases reported worldwide and in India'.

Excessive steam could lead to black fungus

Data also shows that as many as 10-20 per cent of the cases of mucormycosis previously reported in India were associated with burns. Trauma to the skin (or mucous membrane) can trigger invasive fungal infection in the right settings.

Former president of the Kochi chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, says excessive steam inhalation could be another factor behind the rise in cases of black fungus.

He explains: "There is a delicate mucous layer that protects us from bacteria and viruses and this is a slimy layer that can be destroyed by large amounts of steam."

"High temperature steam in large amounts taken excessively can damage the mucosa, the lining of the airways," Dr Jayadevan told India Today.

Dr Jayadevan adds, "Steam inhalation may seem like a benign process but there is no scientific basis that it will help in Covid-19 apart from slight symptomatic relief in cases of dry cough."

Black fungus cases rose by 2.5 times last year

Cases of black fungus went up by 2.5 times across 16 centres in India between September and December of last year
, a research paper published in the medical journal Microorganisms pointed out.

The paper, compiled by Professor Marco Falcone from the University of Pisa in Italy, said, "The computational-model-based method estimated a prevalence of 14 cases per 1,00,000 individuals in India."

black fungus
© PTI
A doctor checking a patient for black fungus at a hospital in Navi Mumbai on Saturday

Globally, the prevalence of mucormycosis varied from 0.005 to 1.7 per million population. At the same time, its prevalence is nearly 80 times higher (0.14 per 1,000) in India compared to developed countries, according to a recent estimate from 2019-2020.

Another study, published in Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews, suggests that the unholy trinity of diabetes, rampant use of corticosteroids coupled with Covid-19 infections appears to have led to the rise in cases of black fungus in the country.

The Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews is the official journal of DiabetesIndia and the National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (NDOC).
 
Guys, is this a first hand expert account? Meaning did any of us speak with a first hand witness of such and such? Media is media and Intenet is on ‘alarm’ setting.
No I haven't discussed it first hand with anyone, and I guess we should always keep the possibility of clickbait and media madness in mind, although I do consider that there are enough reports to suggest that a fungal infection, if that's what it is, is indeed on the rise in India.

And It was precisely the ignored reports that made me curious at first. How the news were immediately linked to covid, so as to carry whatever was going on with covid as a "new symptom found!" type situation, and second the fact that it simply gets reported and then it disappears from the news.
 
The following video is a short explanation (12 minutes) of the Black Fungus pathophysiology. As you'll see, the author of the video makes a link between Black Fungus and covid, but it is 'strange' to see that in his explanation he defines how the fungus (mold) enter through the nostrils, and yet he doesn't mention anything about the use of masks.

The video is a bit technical, but it is made in a funny and clear way.
 
I just caught this on my news round up tonight that I have translated from spanish using DeepL

First two fatal cases of 'black fungus' infection reported in Iraq

He also explained that the disease is caused by "exposure to mold" in the soil, as well as rotting fruits and vegetables, and stressed that people with oncological diseases and diabetes are the main risk group.

So far, the age and sex of the deceased has not been disclosed, nor if they had suffered from any concomitant disease.

The disease usually appears in patients with some form of immunodeficiency. Currently, doctors in India, where the pandemic is raging, consider it a postcovid complication, although it is not contagious and is not transmitted from person to person.

For his part, the Iraqi Director General of Public Health, Abdul Amir Al-Halfi, declared on Monday that "the black fungus is a very rare disease that affects the immunocompromised, and has nothing to do with the coronavirus," according to the state news agency INA.

Symptoms of the disease include pain and redness around the eyes and nose, headaches, fever and cough. In addition, it can manifest itself with respiratory difficulties, bloody vomiting and even an altered mental state. As for the areas directly affected, the infection can settle in the sinuses or lungs after the fungal spores are inhaled.

The most vulnerable people are those who have been taking a lot of medications recently or who spent a long time in intensive care units. Among covid-19 survivors, mucormycosis can involve loss of the upper jaw and eyes in extreme cases. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average mortality rate from the disease is 54%.

I found it super interesting how the doctors in Iraq are saying that it's not related to covid, that it's more likely related to taking medications or being in intensive care and being immunosuppressed. I would say that Iraq has a way better idea about it than India does where they seem to be blaming it simply on post covid complications.

I also found interesting how one of the symptoms can be an "altered mental state". Here's where RT got the news from.
 
And I came across this one today from Mexico, where they are also mentioning that a case had been found in Uruguay, last month.

I guess for the record, they're being very relaxed about the whole thing and calming people down, I wonder if at some point they might use this to make everyone panic at the prospect of catching "post covid complications".
 
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