Fact check: Is your fridge a breeding ground for black fungus?

As the country battles the surging cases of Black Fungus also known as Mucormycosis, the scare of this life threatening disease post Covid-19 has turned into a nightmare for people. Unfortunately, what is making it more awful are the floating myths across the social media platforms that veggies, fruits and your fridge could be the breeding ground for black fungus, but is it true? Here’s what experts have to say about all this!

Of late, a social media post on Facebook created mass fear, wherein it was written that “Beware of domestic black fungus, which can be caused by foods like onion. While purchasing onions you must have come across a black layer or spots on the outer layer of onion, which is nothing but fungus. Moreover, in the same post it was written that the black film or layer on the rubber inside the refrigerator is the cause of black fungus. If these two things are ignored black fungus can easily enter the body from the foods kept inside the fridge.

As per the post it was claimed that both these types of fungus can be the major reason behind the increasing cases of Mucormycosis.

While clearing the air on this strange claim around Mucormycosis, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria has expressed that there is a need to aggressively work on preventing the fungal infection and managing the sugar levels in patients who suffered from Covid-19.

While sharing his views on the nyth around black fungus he said: “The most important thing to remember is that mucormycosis is not a black fungus. It is a misnomer… because there is some discolouration of skin as it decreases blood supply, it may give a feeling that the area has become black, that is why the name has come."

He further added that “If one is having steroids for a long period of time or has underlying predisposing condition like diabetes, the person is predisposed to many fungal infections, one that is being seen more commonly is mucormycosis…which is predominantly involving the sinuses, the eye and at times it can go on to the brain and have nasal involvement. There have been some reports of pulmonary mucormycosis."

While speaking to a leading news channel, Dr Guleria added that “There are people who are at a high risk, they need to be careful about sugar control. We have to be very careful about the use of steroids. Not using it early because there is data which suggests that early use of steroids predisposes to secondary infection, both bacterial and fungal. And also the doses and duration of steroids need to be closely monitored because that itself also predisposes. The viral infection itself, presence of diabetes and use of steroids all need to be closely monitored if you need to prevent this from happening."