Tamil Nadu will soon notify Mucormycosis as a notifiable disease and a 10-member committee has been formed with deans and DPH to review the infection, said Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan on Thursday. In Tamil Nadu, the Health Secretary said that nine people have been identified to have Mucormycosis but no deaths have been reported till now due to the infection.
Addressing the reporters, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary said, “Nine people have Mucormycosis in the state. Of the nine, seven patients are diabetic while the remaining two patients do not have diabetics. Some have infections in their eyes and treatment has been started for all them. There is no death reported till now.” The Health Secretary then went on to explain that a notifiable disease means that if the infection is identified in a patient at a private/govt hospital then the institution must notify the government.
However, Radhakrishnan said that the infection was present even before COVID-19 infection and requested the public to not panic. He said, “People should not be afraid about Mucormycosis. It is a fungal infection and it was present even before COVID-19. The infection affects patients with diabetes, patients continuously taking steroids, or those monitored in ICU for several days, transplant patients or patients undergoing certain therapies.”
“States like Maharashtra and Rajasthan were reporting such cases. So taking the infection into consideration, Tamil Nadu CM has told us to make this a notifiable disease,” he said. He also added that, “Mucormycosis is curable and we have started a Mucormycosis committee with 10 members including deans under DPH for reviewing the disease. We have also placed orders with Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation to supply more Amphotericin medicines to treat Mucormycosis.”
Mucormycosis is an infection caused by mucormycetes molds, which are organisms present in air, leaves, piles of compost, soil and rotting wood. If a patient gets exposed to the fungus, it infects the central nervous system, eyes, sinuses, lungs etc., but it will not infect everyone exposed to the fungus.