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First black fungus patient in Jammu dies
The 40-year-old patient suffering from mucormycosis was admitted to the government medical college in Jammu on Thursday, but he succumbed today, said financial commissioner health and medical education Atal Dulloo
Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded first death due to black fungus.
A 40-year-old patient suffering from mucormycosis was admitted to the government medical college in Jammu on Thursday, but he succumbed today, said financial commissioner health and medical education Atal Dulloo.
Principal and dean of GMC, Dr Shashi Sudan Sharma, said, “His tests confirmed him to be a case of mucormycosis, commonly called black fungus. His blood sugar had shot up to 900 when he was brought to the hospital emergency.”
He was a Covid patient, who had recovered and even tested negative in RTPCR test.
“He contracted black fungus due to his uncontrolled levels of blood sugar. Steroids are given to Covid patients for a long time, but in his case his blood sugar was uncontrolled and he had not been administered with proper antidiabetic medication,” Sharma said.
People with weak immunity and those having uncontrolled diabetes are vulnerable to this disease, she added.
Once inside the body, black fungus starts damaging blood vessels, brain and even bones.
Dr Sharma said that doctors were attending to him and the first priority was to bring down his blood sugar levels and stabilise them, but he died this afternoon.
“Black fungus is not related to Covid, but we have found it in corona patients in other states. Since steroids are used in the treatment of Covid for a long time, in cases of steroid-induced diabetes and uncontrolled sugar levels, the patient may get predisposition to this condition called black fungus. It is not a communicable disease at all,” she added.
She said that when the patient was brought to the emergency, he not only had 900 blood sugar level, but was in ketoacidosis state.
“The mucormycosis had progressed a lot in him and in such cases, we have to first control underlying diseases like diabetes and ketoacidosis. We also give anti-fungal, but first the underlying disease has to be controlled. Recovery rate vary from patient to patient,” Sharma said.
