Infectious disease expert at Indian Science Congress says Covid taught us judicious use of steroids

Indiscriminate use of steroids during the COVID-19 pandemic was a key factor behind the spurt in cases of mucormycosis, a serious but rare fungal infection, among coronavirus survivors in the country in 2021, said an infectious disease expert at the ongoing Indian Science Congress.

The pandemic taught several lessons, including the need to keep the environment clean and judicious use of drugs like steroids, said Dr Tanu Singhal, a paediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.

She made the comments while giving a presentation on ‘COVID-19 associated secondary infections’ at the five-day science meet which started on Tuesday. 

Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the congress, Dr Singhal said India had recorded over 50,000 COVID-19-associated mucormycosis patients till May 2021.

As per the US public health agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mucormycosis is a serious but rare fungal infection and mainly affects people with compromised immunity. It most commonly affects the sinuses or the lungs after inhaling fungal spores from the air.

Dr Singhal said Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had recorded most of the cases of mucormycosis or black fungus infection among states and the reasons for this were many.

One of the factors was our the environment where the fungal spore count is high due to decaying garbage, tropical climate and humidity, she said. COVID-19 patients with reduced immunity, underlying diabetes, high doses of steroids and uncontrolled blood sugars could not clear these fungal spores and went on to develop mucormycosis. Due to all these reasons, we had this outbreak, she said.