Man undergoing treatment at DMCH for black fungus after COVID recovery 

Doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital are treating a patient for mucormycosis or black fungus after his recent recovery from COVID-19.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 June 2021, 10:02 PM
Updated : 14 June 2021, 10:02 PM

The 45-year-old from Khulna was doing well on Monday, three days after he underwent a surgery, a doctor said.

The patient was admitted to the hospital with post-COVID complications a week ago.

He had headache, sinusitis, and eye problem, said Dr Farhad Uddin Hasan Chowdhury Maruf, registrar of the DMCH’s Department of Medicine.

The patient also had problems breathing through his nose and one side of his face swelled.

The doctors at the department began his treatment assuming the disease was mucormycosis. They removed the fungus with the help of the ear, nose and throat specialists.

Finally, test results confirmed he had black fungus.

He, however, has lost sight of his right eye, said Dr Farhad.

Dr Shahriar Arafat Sourav, an assistant professor of ENT, said the patient’s brain was also affected by the fungus.

He was now being given antifungal drugs and the doctor hopes he will recover once he completes the medication.  

BIRDEM Hospital in Dhaka confirmed the first of black fungus in Bangladesh on May 25. That patient was also diagnosed with the disease after recovering from coronavirus infection amid the pandemic.

Mucormycosis or black fungus is a fungal infection, which is rare but can be fatal. In 50 percent of the cases, this fungal infection causes death.

A patient suffering from the black fungus can be saved only by removing the bone around the eyes or jaw.

It causes blackening or discolouration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood.

The disease has a close link to diabetes, and conditions that compromise the immune system.

Experts say the overuse during the pandemic of certain drugs which suppress the immune system could be causing a surge in black fungus cases in India during a deadly second wave of COVID-19 infection.