The Union Health Ministry on Thursday urged States and Union Territories to make ‘Black Fungus’ or Mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 stating that the infection is leading to prolonged morbidity and mortality amongst COVID-19 patients.
The Health Ministry in a letter to the States and UT’s said, “All government and private health facilities and medical colleges have to follow guidelines for screening, diagnosis, management of mucormycosis”. The letter further added to make it mandatory for all these facilities to report all suspected and confirmed cases to health department through district-level Chief Medical and subsequently to Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) surveillance system.
As per the Union Health Ministry, mucormycosis or black fungus is a complication caused by a fungal infection. People catch mucormycosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores in the environment. It can also develop on the skin after the fungus enters the skin through a cut, scrape, burn or other types of skin trauma.