MUMBAI, INDIA — Even as a deadly second wave of Covid-19 ravages India, doctors are now reporting a rash of cases involving a rare fungal infection — also called the "black fungus" — among recovering and recovered Covid-19 patients. <br /><br />The infection has a very high mortality rate and treatment often involves the removal of an eye. Here are the details:<br /><br />The BBC reports that surgeons in India are reporting a sharp increase in the number of mucormycosis cases in patients who survived Covid-19. <br /><br />Mucormycosis is a rare fungal infection that is caused by exposure to mucor mould; which is commonly found in soil, plants, and even in the mucus of healthy people. <br /><br />It affects the sinuses, the brain and the lungs, and can be life-threatening in diabetics or people with weakened immune systems. <br /><br />The infection has a frightening mortality rate of 50%, and often requires the removal of an eye or sinus tissues. <br /><br />Diabetics who survived coronavirus are especially at risk. Some doctors believe that's because diabetes lowers the body's immune defences, then coronavirus exacerbates the problem, and then steroids — which help fight coronavirus — acts like fuel to the fire.<br /><br />Steroids reduce inflammation in the lungs for Covid-19 and limit the damage. But they also reduce immunity in both diabetic and non-diabetic Covid-19 patients. <br /><br />It is thought that this drop in immunity could be triggering India's spike in mucormycosis cases.<br /><br />Mumbai's busy Sion Hospital has reported 24 cases of the fungal infection in the past two months — up from six cases a year. <br /><br />Eleven of them had to lose an eye, and six of them died. <br /><br />Most of the patients are middle-aged diabetics who were struck down by the fungus two weeks after recovering from Covid-19.
