Supplies of #Amphotericin, the drug used to treat the rare but deadly infection #mucormycosis (aka #blackfungus), are running dangerously low in #coronavirus-ravaged India as more #COVID19 patients contract the disease caused by mold.
Health experts and citizens across numerous cities in the country have been turning to social media to source the antifungal medicine Amphotericin-B, of which the country is facing an “acute shortage,” according to local media.
“Need this urgently,” read one tweet from Indian cricketer Hanuma Vihari, who was appealing to help a female patient who was first diagnosed with covid-19 and then mucormycosis. “Kindly help her survive,” he wrote alongside an image of handwritten notes detailing the patient’s medical needs from a doctor at a hospital in the city of Visakhapatnam.
A spokesman for a pharmacists’ association in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, told India Today that the drug could be found just a week earlier but that “it is now unavailable in almost all stores.”
While the total number of patients with mucormycosis nationwide remains unclear, some states such as Maharashtra have reported up to 1,500 cases and more than 50 deaths.
Covid-19 patients who develop mucormycosis often report side effects such as loss of vision, along with black nasal discharge, which doctors say could be linked to steroid treatment given to those with the coronavirus.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/19/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/?wpmk=1&wpisrc=al_world__alert-world--alert-hse&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NmEwZmM5YmJjMGY2ODI2YjhjMDUwIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vbmF0aW9uLzIwMjEvMDUvMTkvY29yb25hdmlydXMtY292aWQtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzLXVzLz93cG1rPTEmd3Bpc3JjPWFsX3dvcmxkX19hbGVydC13b3JsZC0tYWxlcnQtaHNlJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9YWxlcnQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUmbG9jYXRpb249YWxlcnQifQ.h1QC5dq4Y2c072fOUD7d3HGZ7_NkVjhO0i6i2s-cuTk
