Do not panic about Black Fungus, says Visakhapatnam District Collector

Witnessing an increase in Black Fungus cases in the city since the last ten days, Visakhapatnam District Collector V Vinay Chand said that not everyone affected with the fungus is to be administered with Liposomal Amphotericin B 50 mg vials, which is advised for Black Fungus patients. On Wednesday, he addressed the media on the situation of Black Fungus cases prevailing in Vizag. 

According to the Collector, though there was a medicine crunch at the initial stage, Vizag and Krishna districts are given more supply of vials in the state, with the medicine now having a centralised supply. As per the clinical protocol, the Black Fungus has been differentiated into three categories as mild, moderate and severe cases. City hospitals are getting in a supply of two drugs Amphotericin B 50 mg and Posaconazole, which come in both IV and tablet format. “Patients with severe fungus spread all over the body are for the first week given medicine through IV, while moderate patients are given tablets. We have informed about the clinical protocol to the doctors in the hospitals,” the collector said. 

With a total of 72 black fungus cases in King George Hospital, there are about nine hospitals in the city where medical officials have seen cases being reported. Medical and Health officials, along with the District Collector, have informed the hospital superintendents on clinical procedures to be followed. According to the Collector, they have observed patients getting panicked soon after they are affected with Black Fungus and their families are asked by the hospitals to get the drug from outside. To avoid the panic situation in the city, a committee has been constituted with the Joint Collector, AMC Principal PV Sudhakar and two medical experts (a Pulmonologist and an ENT Surgeon) to monitor the Black Fungus cases reported daily and they will allocate the medicines depending on the severity of the patient. 

With a total of 113 patients currently being treated for Black Fungus in Visakhapatnam, the district officials said that the medicine allocation to the district will be more in the next week, so as to give better treatment.