Chennai: More than 2,500 people have been infected by mucormycosis or black fungus and 148 deaths were reported in Tamilnadu, the Special Task Force (STF) formed by the State government to advise on issues related to the infection, said today.
Talking to reporters after submitting an interim report to Chief Minister M K Stalin at the State Secretariat, the Committee members said more than 2,500 people were infected by the black fungus.
A total of 148 people have died due to the infection. However, the mortality rate was very less when compared to other States, they said.
Thanks to the awareness created among the people, the infection was being diagnosed at a very early stage in the State and was being treated quickly, they said, allaying the fears of the public on the infection, mainly reported among those who have recovered from Covid infection.
They also said the infection rate was coming down in the State. They said black fungus cases were reported in 27 districts of the State with districts like Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem and Trichy reporting higher cases.
However, no such cases were reported in Chennai’s neighbouring district of Tiruvallur and Kallakurichi. Last month, the State government constituted the STF to tackle mucormycosis or black fungus.
The 13-member committee was headed by the Director of Medical Education (DME) and will advise the State government on issues related to mucormycosis, the fungal disease reported in patients recovering from Covid-19 infection.
The committee comprised of health experts from the public and private sector has been formed to advise the State government on the prevention and treatment of the disease.
It would also update the government on the latest international research on mucormycosis.
The task force has the Director of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic hospital as the Member Secretary.
The Directors of Medical and Rural Health services and Public Health and Preventive Medicine are among the members of the committee.
ENT specialists Mohan Kameswaran of Madras ENT Research Foundation and Babu Manohar of Apollo hospitals; infectious disease specialists Subramanian Swaminathan of Global Hospital and V Ramasubramanian of Apollo hospitals; Mohan Rajan of Rajan Eye Care; Microbiologists Anupama Nithya of Sri Ramachandra Hospital and Balajee of Global hospital; the Heads of ENT and Microbiology departments of Madras Medical College are the other members of the task force.
It may be recalled that the State government had on 20 May notified mucormycosis as a notified disease in view of the increase in cases.
“If any patients are diagnosed with Mucormycosis in a government or private hospital, they should immediately notify it to the Directorate of Public Health,” Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said.