India has recorded over 45,000 cases of "black fungus," a 50% fatal fungal infection that is spreading among patients who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the past two months.
A worrying record which is surely largely undervalued by the Indian authorities.
On Tuesday, in front of parliament the Deputy Minister of Health, Bharati Pravin Pawar announced that 4,200 patients had already died of mucormycosis, this rare and very aggressive fungal disease, whose mortality rate is estimated at 50%, is attacking to patients' faces forcing surgeons to remove their eyes, nose and jawbone to prevent infection from affecting the brain.
A real scourge which continues to increase in intensity in the country.
Read alsoCovid-19 and "black fungus": should we be worried about this epidemic which is spreading in India?
Many patients die of the disease before reaching hospital
Its proliferation has prompted the Indian government to qualify the wave of contaminations as a “new epidemic”.
Also according to the government, the state of Maharashtra (west) is the most affected with 9,348 cases.
India recorded only 20 cases of mucormycosis per year before the Covid-19 pandemic, this disease affecting in particular people who are immunocompromised, have too high a blood sugar level, have AIDS or have undergone transplants. organs.
In France, Covid-19 has not created a wave of mucormycosis, which only affects about fifty patients each year.
Experts have attributed the dramatic rise in mucormycosis cases in India to overuse of steroids to treat Covid-19 patients.
Government figures show the number of infections peaked in May and June before dropping significantly.
The Hindustan Times newspaper reported on Monday an increase in cases among children in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Social networks have been inundated with desperate calls for treatments to cure the disease.
Antifungal drugs are available to treat mucormycosis.
The Indian government has also announced that the laboratories will accelerate the production of liposomal amphotericin B, a very effective antibiotic for treating patients.
20 vials would be needed to treat each infected person and each of them currently costs between 56 and 68 euros (5,000 and 6,000 rupees), reports the Indian Times.
"Cases and deaths linked to mucormycosis are largely underestimated in our country," Dr Raghuraj Hegde, an eye surgeon based in Bangalore, told the BBC.
“Deaths occur several weeks or months after contracting Covid-19.
Our current system does not allow us to collect this data, ”he explained.
“Diagnosis is also more difficult in remote hospitals, very few patients reach large city hospitals.
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According to him, many patients die of the disease "before reaching a hospital" and others suffer from a relapse a few weeks later.
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