2 kids with 'black fungus' get eye removed in Bengaluru

It is very unlikely for children aged less than five years to be acutely diabetic

In a shocking turn of events, at least four children have developed mucormycosis ('black fungus') in Karnataka among 1,370 patients identified across the state, the health department said.

The children aged one year (male), four years (male), 11 years (male), and 14 years (female) have baffled doctors as it’s very unlikely for children aged less than five years to be acutely diabetic.

All four children are under treatment in Bengaluru. As per the database maintained by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), a one-year-old boy suffering from a fungal infection is in Manipal Hospital and a four-year-old boy suffering from the condition is in Vikram Hospital.

Also read: Two children from rural Karnataka contract 'black fungus'; under treatment in Bengaluru

However, when contacted, the Manipal Hospital group said there is no such child under their care at the Old Airport Road branch. There was no response from the Whitefield branch.

Vikram Hospital, in an email, said, “We do not have any four-year-old boy suffering from mucormycosis.”

When DH brought it to the notice of IDSP officials that there are no such patients currently under the care of these hospitals, they did not respond. The current whereabouts of these children and the status of their eyesight are unknown.

The other known reported cases of paediatric mucormycosis were in Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital where a 14-year-old girl from Ballari and an 11-year-old boy from Chitradurga, having Type-1 acute juvenile diabetes, had the infection spread to their eyes and brain, and consequently had to have one eye each surgically removed.

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Dr Sunil Karanth, HoD, Critical Care, Manipal Hospital, told DH, “Picking up the problem early is very important. Every discharged Covid patient has to be examined by an ENT specialist. If it goes to the orbit of the eyes, then a very expensive surgery is needed. Covid can lead to suppressed immunity for a prolonged period. CD4 and CD8 cells counter each other, one increases and the other decreases immunity. The balance needs to be right.”

“Due to Covid, both these cells are suppressed and patients are at a higher risk of developing a fungal infection. Mucor fungus is present everywhere and we can’t eliminate it from the environment. The fact that more children are getting the fungal infection means we’re getting a true picture of how many children have been exposed to the Covid virus," he said.

Health Minister Sudhakar said, “Mucormycosis is treatable. In some cases, removal of the eye becomes inevitable to weed out even the tiniest trace of the infection, so that it does not invade the brain."