{"id":38329,"date":"2021-05-25T15:21:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T09:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=38329"},"modified":"2021-05-25T15:21:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T09:51:18","slug":"white-fungus-could-be-deadly-in-covid-19-patients-dak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=38329","title":{"rendered":"White fungus could be deadly in Covid-19 patients: DAK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srinagar, May 25<\/em><\/b><\/span>:<\/em><\/b> <\/em><\/b><\/span><\/span>The Doctors<\/em> <\/em><\/span>Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday said Aspergillosis, commonly known as white fungus could be deadly in Covid-19 patients.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After black fungus, several cases of white fungus have been reported in Uttar Pradesh among recovered Covid-19 patients.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhite fungus could be just as fatal as black fungus in Covid-19 patients,\u201d said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Quoting a study of 186 Covid-19 patients who had Aspergillosis, he said more than 50 percent of them died and one-third of these deaths were linked to the Aspergillus fungus.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr Hassan said Aspergillus is ubiquitous and is found in soil, air and rotting food.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDespite being common in the environment, it usually does not cause infection in healthy individuals,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the body\u2019s defenses get weakened, the fungus gets a chance to infect with devastating results,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr Hassan said Covid depletes immune cells leaving patients vulnerable to opportunistic fungal infection.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe virus damages the cells lining the lung that impairs the organ\u2019s ability to clear out the respiratory pathogens like Aspergillus,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The DAK President said the drugs that are used to treat Covid-19 heighten the risk of Aspergillus infection.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cUse of steroids leaves door open for the fungal infection in Covid-19 patients,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter inhaling fungus from the air, the fungal infection goes to the lungs and causes pneumonia,\u201d Dr Nisar said.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe symptoms of Aspergillosis include fever, cough and shortness of breath that are similar to Covid-19 which means healthcare professionals don\u2019t think of the diagnosis and many patients may be dying undiagnosed,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA high degree of suspicion should be there for the doctors treating Covid-19 patients because early detection and treatment with antifungal drugs holds the key,\u201d said Dr Nisar.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, in The Lancet, an international group of physicians and medical mycology societies laid down recommendations for diagnosing Aspergillus infections in COVID-19 patients, including doing lung imaging scans and taking samples from the lungs at regular interval for testing. The guidelines will help doctors treating Covid-19 patients know whether they\u2019re battling one deadly pathogen, or two,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar, May 25: The Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday said Aspergillosis, commonly known as white fungus could be deadly in Covid-19 patients. After black fungus, several cases of white fungus have been reported in Uttar Pradesh among recovered Covid-19 patients. \u201cWhite fungus could be just as fatal as black fungus in Covid-19 patients,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}