India — Several states over the last 24 hours declared mucormycosis, a life-threatening viral infection in Covid-19 patients, a notifiable disease following the central government’s advisory on Thursday.
The Centre on Thursday wrote a letter to all the states and union territories asking to make mucormycosis or black fungus a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.
A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities. This allows the authorities to monitor the disease and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.
Mucormycosis is commonly seen in Covid-19 patients who are in the recovery phase of the disease. It usually infects people whose immune system has been compromised due to comorbidities such as diabetes, kidney or heart failure or cancer.
The symptoms of the fungal infection include blackening or discoloration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood.
Here is the list of states that have declared mucormycosis a notifiable disease:
Telangana
Telangana was the first state to declare mucormycosis a notifiable disease. The state government gave the order on Thursday morning, hours before the Centre’s advisory.
Odisha
On the line of the Centre’s advisory, Odisha on Thursday declared black fungus a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
Karnataka
Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar on Thursday said no hospital or medical centre with the capacity to treat mucormycosis can deny admission to patients. He made the statement while declaring it a notifiable disease. An official government order wil also be notified soon, he also said.
Tamil Nadu
The Tamil Nadu government declared mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Public Health Act. It has also constituted a 10-member committee, including the Director, Medical Education with medical experts to examine the disease and give a more clear picture.
Rajasthan
A notification for the same was issued by the state’s principal health secretary Akhil Arora. In a statement on Thursday, Arora said the step was taken to ensure integrated and coordinated treatment of black fungus and the coronavirus.
Rajasthan has around 100 black fungus patients as of May 19, according to state government data.
Gujarat
“Government and private hospitals/medical colleges treating the disease will have to follow guidelines by the Union Health Ministry as well as ICMR for screening, diagnosis & treatment,” said Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani as he passed the order.