Black mushrooms accumulate in the misery of Covid victims in India
[ad_1]
The sharp rise in cases of black fungus has revealed the effects of over-healing during the Covid-19 wave disaster in India when prolonged prescribers violate prescription policies and become terrified of having self-medication.
-Excessive prescription steroidsmainly attributed to the outbreak of deadly fungal infections in the treatment of Covid-19 patients and the shortage of medicine to treat it.
Doctors have reported that there is an abundance of patients with black fungus or mucormycosis who start a nose with a death rate of at least 50 percent and it spreads rapidly to the eyes and brain.
Experts they have warned that administering too many steroids and other medications can lead to secondary infections and antibiotic resistance in the country.
“The cases I’m seeing are devastating. You usually see four or five cases in life, now we see four or five cases a day, “said Dr. Atul Mittal, of the Fortis Memorial Research Institute at a hospital outside New Delhi, an ear, nose and throat surgeon.” I think it’s all because of the irrational use of steroids. ” .
People with mucormycotic infections require surgery to remove dead tissue from the fungus. Many patients have been cured of coronavirus to lose their eyes or upper jaw to save their lives.
When the infection begins to spread, it can kill people within a few days, Mittal said. “We can’t let the disease grow, it will continue to invade like termites,” he said.
Mucor mold is found everywhere in everyday life: in soil, plants, and spoiled fruits. But cases of mucormycosis are rare and sometimes only affect people with diabetes or a weakened immune system, such as patients with cancer.
However, doctors said that Covid-19 patients who took high doses of steroids for a long time suffered infections against medical instructions.
Steroids are given to help scare away the “cytokine storm,” an excessive inflammatory response that hurts the body without stopping the infection, caused by the coronavirus. But they also reduce immunity and raise sugar levels, creating fertile soils for mushroom growing. India, which has the largest number of diabetics in the world after China, has thousands of patients at risk.
Across the country, hospitals are creating ad hoc units to deal with growing cases of the black fungus. As many patients in India are undergoing steroid therapy for Covid-19, officials fear that the numbers will rise. Maharashtra Health Minister, Commercial Capital of Mumbai, warn there could have been more than 2,000 cases in the state last week.
But as if they were disappointed oxygen demand and remdesivir anti-virus medications in India in recent weeks, now there are appeals from relatives of people suffering from mucormycosis to ensure life-saving drugs such as liposomal amphotericin B.
Harsh Gupta, a 28-year-old software engineer from Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), said he had visited more than 50 pharmacies in the past four days to find an injectable drug.
His diabetic father was diagnosed with newly cured mucormycosis from Covid-19 and underwent surgery on Friday.
“There is a chance that the infection will re-develop in the area. This injection is very necessary to prevent this,” Gupta said. “There’s no chance the surgery could happen twice.”
Without drugs, the father is unlikely to survive. “It’s not available anywhere,” Gupta said. “We can’t. We don’t know what to do. ”
Gilead, which manufactures the drug, said it is “preparing hundreds of thousands of additional anti-fungal drugs with shipments starting this week.”
Lancelot Pinto, a pulmonologist at Mumbai PD Hindu Hospital, said the increase in cases of mucormycosis reflects a broader trend of misuse of steroids in India.
World Health Organization advises coronavirus patients receive a daily dose of 6 mg of dexamethasone, one corticosteroid or its equivalent, for seven to 10 days to reduce the death of patients with severe or severe disease.
“I’ve seen recipes up to 500 mg a day. It’s not uncommon, ”Pinto said, adding that many Indian patients were given steroids during the month.
Taking steroids too early in Covid-19 infection can also affect the immune system and it is believed that it can lead to unnecessary hospitalizations of young adults who may be suffering from the disease.
Due to the intense pressure of the second wave, doctors have cleared the list of medications containing steroids and antibiotics for people with mild symptoms.
Local governments in India have sent opposing messages to take the drugs, sometimes in opposition to the global convention.
For example, several Indian states are distributing the antiparasitic Ivermectin as a prophylactic treatment for Covid-19, despite warnings against its use by the WHO. Others have included antibiotics and steroids in home Covid-19 care packages.
Public health lawyer Leena Menghaney said many people are self-medicating with antibiotics, increasing their risk of antibiotic resistance.
“They store all the families I know or use azithromycin,” Donald Trump, then U.S. president, said of an antibiotic. accepted in the first year. “We’re smoking a very important drug.”
Latest coronavirus news
Follow FT’s live coverage and analysis of the global pandemic and the rapidly evolving economic crisis here.
[ad_2]
Source link