Rajasthan notifies mucormycosis, commonly known as black fungus, as an epidemic

Rajasthan has become the second state after Haryana to notify mucormycosis, commonly known as black fungus, as an epidemic. The state medical and health department has made mucormycosis as a notified and notifiable disease under the Rajasthan Epidemic Act 2020.

Following the order, all hospitals will have to keep a record of the patients suffering from this disease, as stated by the state's Principal Health Secretary Akhil Arora. This step has been taken to ensure integrated and coordinated treatment of black fungus.

Health minister Dr Raghu Sharma said the state has received only 700 injections from the Union government against a demand of 50,000 injections to combat this medical condition. There is an acute scarcity of Liposomal Amphotericin 50 mg injections and Posaconazole, which are life-saving injections for black fungus patients.

The state government has taken over all the stocks of these injections from pharma distributors after reports of their large scale black marketing.

The health department has so far recorded 100 black fungus patients, but unofficial estimates suggest that the number could be 400. It has been largely reported from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Sikar and Pali.

In Jaipur itself, there are 40 patients in Sawai Man Singh Hospital where a special ward has been created for the disease.

The state government has also included black fungus in its ambitious Chiranjeevi health scheme. Under this health plan, the state government provides each family with health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family.

Earlier, COVID was included for coverage under this plan and now black fungus too has been added to it.

As per the Union Health Ministry, people get infected with mucormycosis due to fungal spores in the environment. It can also develop on the skin after the fungus enters the skin through a cut, scrape, burn or other various types of skin trauma.

This disease has been detected among patients who contracted COVID and are recovering or those who are currently suffering from it.

According to doctors at the SMS Medical College & Hospital in Jaipur, the injections to combat the fungus are given on the basis of a patient’s weight. A patient weighing 70 kg would require 300 mg of doses which means he will have to get six injections a day. Thus, heavy doses of injections are required for treating such patients.

Health minister Dr Sharma has said that the state government is preparing itself to combat the disease and the state government is holding talks with eight major firms manufacturing the injections needed to treat black fungus.

Experts believe that the treatment of COVID-19 patients involve the intake of drugs like dexamethasone, which suppresses the immune system response, putting them at a renewed risk of failing the battle against attacks mounted by organism such as black fungus.

Numerous cases of the disease have been reported from Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar.