Mucormycosis
The black fungus is darkening people’s vision. The virus has brought about so many side effects even after people have recovered. One side effect that has recently surfaced is Mucormycosis or the black fungus. It is a rare infection that is caused by exposure to mucor found in soil, plants, manure, and decaying fruits and vegetables.
Mucor, however, is also found in the mucus of healthy humans. It affects the brain and lungs of severely immunocompromised individuals and people with diabetes. Mucormycosis can be life-threatening.
It is triggered by the use of steroids; which is a commonly used treatment for individuals affected by COVID. This treatment can be life-saving. Steroids are used to help reduce the inflammation in the lungs caused due to COVID. It stops some damage that happens due to the immune system going into overdrive to fight the virus. Steroids also reduce immunity and increase the blood sugar levels in COVID-19 patients.
One theory is that this drop in immunity could be a trigger for mucormycosis. It has an overall mortality rate of fifty percent. In some cases, the patients have lost their eyes, which had to be surgically removed to prevent the infection from spreading to the brain.
Symptoms of mucormycosis include black patches of skin around the nose, stuffy and bleeding nose, swelling and pain in the eye, drooping of eyelids, blurring, and at the end, loss of vision.
Many patients often arrive for treatment late and this often leads to the loss of vision. To curb the outbreak of the fungal infection, it should be made sure that, steroids are being administered in proper doses and the sugar levels of the patients should be taken care of.
