Chennai: Going in line with the advisory of the Central government, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday declared ‘black fungus’ or Mucormycois as a notifiable disease under Epidemic Diseases Act after nine people were found to have been infected with it in the state. “Currently nine people are being treated for the disease, of which six are old cases and three, new ones. Seven of them are diabetic… all are stable,” health secretary J Radhakrishnan said.
Pointing out that the black fungus was already in existence much before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said people with uncontrolled diabetes and consuming steroids and those in Intensive Care Units for a long time were more susceptible to the disease.
The state government has also formed a 10-member ‘Mucormycois Committee’, comprising senior medical professionals to study what measures need to be taken for the infection.
“The advantage of announcing black fungus as a notifiable disease was that all hospitals would immediately inform the government if they come across such cases, enabling the administration know which place or district was reporting more such numbers,” he said.
However, the health secretary urged the people not to panic or believe in rumours in various social media platforms about the disease. “We have seen 2,000 babies getting delivered amid these COVID-19 times. People need not panic about black fungus disease”, he said.
Earlier in the day, the Union Health Ministry 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 ministry, in a letter, said that in the recent times a new challenge in the form of a fungal infection namely mucormycosis has emerged and is reported from many states amongst COVID-19 patients, especially those on steroid therapy and deranged sugar control.