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In India’s disastrous second Covid-19 wave, the number of black fungus cases increased dramatically, exposing the consequences of over-drug use, as doctors over-take prescription drug guidelines and panic patients need self-medication.
Overprescription SteroidIn particular, patients treated for Covid-19 have been blamed for the surge in fatal black fungus infections and the shortage of drugs to treat the disease.
Doctors report that a large number of patients suffer from black fungus or mucormycosis. The death rate of this infection is at least 50%. This disease starts in the nose and quickly spreads to the eyes and brain.
Expert level It has been warned that taking too much steroids and other drugs in the country may cause secondary infections and antibiotic resistance.
“The number of cases I have seen is devastating. You usually see four to five cases in your life, and now we see four to five cases every day,” said Atul Mittal, an otolaryngologist at the Fortis Memorial Institute in the suburbs of New Delhi. Said the doctor. “I think they are all due to unreasonable use of steroids.”
People with mucormycosis infection often require surgery to scrape away dead tissue killed by the fungus. Many patients recover from the coronavirus just to lose their eyesight or upper jaw to save lives.
Mittal said that once the infection begins to spread, it can kill people within a few days. He said: “We can’t let this disease spread, it will continue to invade like termites.”
Officials are worried that black fungus cases will increase because so many Covid patients are receiving steroid treatment © Rebecca Conway/Getty
Mucor mold is ubiquitous in daily life: in soil, plants and rotten fruits. But mucormycosis is rare, and only sometimes affects people with diabetes or weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients.
However, doctors say that thousands of Covid-19 patients who take large doses of steroids for long periods of time in violation of medical guidelines are more susceptible to infection.
Prescription steroids can help prevent the “cytokine storm” (an excessive inflammatory response that can harm the body without stopping the infection) caused by the coronavirus. But they also reduce immunity and increase sugar levels, providing fertile soil for fungal growth. India is the country with the largest number of diabetic patients in the world after China, and thousands of its patients are at risk.
Hospitals across the country are setting up special departments to deal with the increasing number of black fungus cases. As many patients in India are still receiving steroid treatment for Covid-19, officials worry that this number will only rise. The Minister of Health of Maharashtra State, the hometown of Mumbai, the commercial capital, caveat There may be more than 2,000 cases in the state last week.
But it’s like desperate Oxygen please As well as the service of using the antiviral drug remdesivir in India in recent weeks, relatives of patients with mucormycosis are now calling for the purchase of life-saving drugs, such as liposomal amphotericin B.
Harsh Gupta, a 28-year-old software engineer from Bombopar, Mumbai, said he has visited more than 50 pharmacies in the past four days to find injectable drugs.
When his diabetic father was diagnosed with mucormycosis and underwent surgery on Friday, he had just recovered from Covid-19.
“The infection may re-evolve in the area again. In order to prevent this, this kind of injection is very necessary,” Gupta said. “Surgery cannot happen twice.”
Without drugs, his father is unlikely to survive. “It’s not available anywhere,” Gupta said. “We are helpless. We don’t know what to do.”
Gilead, which produces the drug, said that it is “preparing thousands of antifungal drugs for shipment starting this week.”
Lancelot Pinto, a pulmonologist at PD Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, said the increase in mucormycosis cases reflects the widespread trend of steroid abuse in India.
World Health Organization Suggest Coronavirus patients receive a daily dose of 6 mg of dexamethasone, corticosteroids or their equivalents for 7 to 10 days to reduce the mortality of severe or severe patients.
“I have seen prescriptions of up to 500mg per day. Pinto said this is not uncommon. He added that patients in India are often prescribed steroids for up to a month.
Pinto said that taking steroids prematurely during the course of Covid-19 infection may also affect the immune system and is suspected of causing unnecessary hospitalization for young people who would otherwise be able to fight the disease.
Under the tremendous pressure of the second wave, doctors prescribed a list of medications including steroids and antibiotics for patients with mild symptoms in case of emergency.
Local governments in India have also issued conflicting messages about taking drugs, sometimes in violation of global conventions.
For example, despite the WHO warning against the use of the antiparasitic drug ivermectin as a preventive treatment for Covid-19, some Indian states are still distributing the drug. Other measures include the use of antibiotics and steroids in home Covid-19 care packages.
Public health lawyer Leena Menghaney said that many people are self-administering antibiotics for medication, which increases the risk of antibiotic resistance.
She said: “Every single family I know has hoarded or used azithromycin,” she said, referring to an antibiotic used by US President Donald Trump at the time. Recognized last year. “We are burning a very important drug.”
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