Early diagnosis holds key, say docs, families of patients who beat mucor

Gurgaon: Megha Saini (34), a resident of Roop Nagar in Delhi, is back home after a surgery for mucormycosis or what is more commonly known as black

fungus

. She feels like a winner returning from the battlefield. After all, life had hurled a series of challenges at her since Holi.

“She has been through a lot. Her father got infected during Holi and passed away on April 13. Soon, her entire family was down with

Covid

. Megha contracted the infection while taking care of her mother. She had to be admitted to hospital, where she was given high doses of steroids,” said Bharat Saini, her husband.

After being discharged, Megha started having pain in the eyes and face. A doctor the couple consulted suspected mucormycosis and Megha was back in the hospital. “The surgery done on her was successful and the biopsy later confirmed she had mucormycosis. My wife could be saved because of early

diagnosis

and timely treatment. Since drugs had been administered early, the spread of the infection could be prevented to a large extent,” Bharat added.

Patients

who have defeated mucormycosis say the spread of the fungal infection can be arrested if the symptoms are diagnosed early and treatment is administered immediately. Early detection is difficult in mucormycosis because symptoms such as pain in the face and cheeks are often mistaken for usual disorders. What makes the treatment even more challenging in the advanced stages is the unavailability of the key antifungal drug, amphotericin B. The treatment, too, is costly and can run up bills of several lakhs.

Lakshmi Prasad (48), who contracted Covid on April 10 and had to be administered oxygen in the ICU, also battled mucormycosis. She would have numbness in her teeth and a pain in the left ear, symptoms enough for her husband to rush to the doctor. “She was detected with mucormycosis. The infection was cleaned up immediately. My wife is now able to walk though she is extremely weak. She is taking medicines and continuing with her medicated gargle,” said Rajat Prasad (48).

A three-year-old Iraqi girl was among the youngest patients of the fungal infection. Her parents had come to Fortis Hospital in the city for her bone marrow transplant when she was found to have mucormycosis. “When they came for the check-up, we tested everyone in the family. All of them were Covid positive,” said Dr Vikas Dua, paediatric haemato oncologist and bone marrow transplant specialist at Fortis.

“The girl got bone marrow from her elder sister, who is 12 years old. After the procedure, we observed she had developed a

black

patch on her stomach. We did a biopsy and the report said cutaneous mucormycosis. We had to remove the dead skin in the area. She is fine now,” Dr Dua added. “Only early diagnosis and immediate anti-fungal procedures can save patients from getting critical,” he said.

As of May 30, Gurgaon had recorded 222 cases of mucormycosis while there were 821 patients across the state. What has aroused fear around mucormycosis is its high mortality rate. “If the infection is detected late, the mortality rate of patients can be as high as 50% -54%,” said Dr Rahul Bhargava, principal director (hematology) at Fortis Memorial Research Institute.


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