Over 30 per cent of Mucormycosis patients in Jharkhand have died of the fungal infection so far, while close to 25 per cent of them have recovered, figures compiled by the State health department highlighted on Monday.
As per latest data shared by the health department, the State has so far reported 33 confirmed cases of Mucormycosis and at least 10 of these patients could not survive. On the other hand, as many as eight patients have recovered from the infection and have been discharged.
Doctors claim that Murocmycosis or Black Fungus, common in diabetic people and people with immunocompromised conditions, has a fatality rate of 50 per cent, indicating that the fatality rate in Jharkhand was lower than the average fatality rate of Mucormycosis in general.
“Early detection and effective treatment were the key to check the fatality rate in patients,” said an Ophthalmologist treating Mucormycosis patients in city-based Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital, Dr Anindya Auradha.
While Ranchi and East Singhbhum have reported three deaths each, two patients died in Ramgarh and one each in Dumka and Chatra. Ranchi also accounted for five of the eight recoveries so far, while East Singhbhum, Palamu and Ramgrah reported one recovery each, stated data released by the State Government on Monday.
However, the State did not report any fresh cases of death caused by Mucormycosis since May 26, data with the health department revealed. Besides, most of the eight recoveries were reported during this period from May 26 to Monday, health officials said.
In the past two days, the state did not find fresh confirmed cases of the fungal infection, but two patients were suspected to have developed the infection, taking the count of suspected Mucormycosis cases in Jharkhand to 46.
Mucormycosis is a rare infection caused by exposure to mucor mould found in soil, plants, manure and decaying fruits and vegetables. The line of treatment includes surgery and administering anti-fungal drugs, mostly Amphotericin B.
Several thousand cases of Covid-induced Mucormycosis were reported in India in the past one month and doctors claimed that use of high dosage steroids for treatment of severely-ill Covid patients was one of the reasons for the spike.
Last week, the government made Mucormycosis a notifiable disease and asked the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) to maintain records related to the lethal fungal infection.
The civil surgeons of all the districts have been asked to report fresh confirmed and suspected cases of Mucormycosis to the IDSP every day.