THREAD: On Saturday morning, Dr @akshaygn, a Mumbai-based eye surgeon, was waiting to operate on a 25-year-old woman who had recovered from a bout of Covid-19 three weeks ago. 1/8 #COVID19India

Inside the surgery, an ear, nose and throat specialist was already at work on the patient, a diabetic. He had inserted a tube in her nose and was removing tissues infected with mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection. 2/8 #COVID19India

This aggressive infection affects the nose, eye and sometimes the brain.
After his colleague finished, Dr Nair would carry out a three hour procedure to remove the patient's eye.
"I will be removing her eye to save her life. That's how this disease works." 3/8 #COVID19India

Even as a deadly second wave of Covid-19 ravages India, doctors are now reporting a rash of cases involving a rare infection - also called the "black fungus" - among recovering and recovered Covid-19 patients. 4/8 #COVID19India

Doctors believe mucormycosis, which has an overall mortality rate of 50%, may be being triggered by the use of steroids, a life-saving treatment for severe and critically ill Covid-19 patients. 5/8 #Covid19India

Steroids reduce inflammation in the lungs for Covid-19 and help stop some of the damage that can happen when the body's immune system goes into overdrive to fight off coronavirus. But they also reduce immunity and push up blood sugar levels in Covid-19 patients. 6/8 #COVID19India

It's thought that this drop in immunity could be triggering these cases of mucormycosis. Diabetics appear to be more prone to this disease. India has an estimated 77 million adult cases of diabetes, the country's fastest growing epidemic.. 7/8 #COVID19India

Mucormycosis is one of the most dangerous complications in diabetics with mortality rates of 40-80%. And now hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Rohtak and Gujarat are reporting a growing number of cases. My story https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57027829 8/8
#Covid19India #Mucormycosis