BLACK, WHITE AND YELLOW FUNGUS

By Sanjay Ram

ABOUT FUNGUS:-

Before we look upon the topic we must know what a fungus is,

As we studied in school, a fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms such as protozoa and Plantae. Fungus is also called an environmental contaminant.

In recent times Black fungus or Mucormycosis is in talks these days as these are spreading in our country, Black fungus or Mucormycosis is not a new fungus in fact it has been existed and infected before but just like Corona, these are considered to be opportunistic infections which means it doesn’t have much effect in normal conditions but can be fatal when someone’s immune system is considered to be weak as the person is suffering from another disease.

Mucormycosis ( from Times Of India)

BLACK FUNGUS:-

ABOUT:-

First of all, black fungus is a very rare disease that is caused by a poor or compromised state of immunity. These come from the Mucorales family, mostly found everywhere in our environments, such as in soil, decaying fruits, and vegetables. It affects the sinuses, the brain, and the lungs and can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals, such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS.

Black fungus is spread in the following ways:-

Air:-

While breathing, these fungi might be present in small spores which enter through our nose and infect our lungs.

Food:-

Decaying foods contain these fungi on the surface, when we eat, the fungus enters our stomach.

Wounds:-

The pores of fungus will enter our body through the surface of our skin from our wounds.

But mostly it's found that the black fungus is spread through the air, as we breathe it enters through our nose which affects the nasal cavity and sinus which causes a reduction in blood flow, and black spots or black discoloration is found under eyes that’s why it's called a Black fungus.

The Black fungus mainly affects the eyes and brain which causes headache, seizure and in extreme cases causes blindness.

The area in which it is affected in our body determines symptoms of Black fungus.

If it's affected in Sinus:- Toothache, headache, fever, and nasal congestion happens.

If it's affected in Lungs:- Fever, chest pain, cough and shortness of breath happens.

If it's affected in the Skin in the region of the wound, the surface turns black.

If it's affected in the stomach:- Abdominal pain, Nausea, and vomiting happen.

To diagnose Biopsy, x-rays, Ct scans and be done.

Treatment can be done by giving Antifungal drugs and by surgery on the surface of the wound.

Prevention of black fungus for Diabetes patients is to control their sugar level and to avoid taking steroids as It decreases immunity.

White and Yellow Fungus:-

Black, white and yellow fungus isn’t that different, the infections caused by these fungi are similar. The reasons behind these are also the same, weakened immune system, only the symptoms are different. In White fungus, the person’s tongue changes to shite in color, the oral cavities, and the food pipe contain white patches, spreading in the ear and eye.

The Yellow fungus is quite deadlier than the black and white as it develops internally in the body and the infection enters through the air.

All the three fungus namely Black, White and Yellow are not contagious till yet as shown from studies, which means they cannot be spread from person to person.

Conclusion:-

The Black-White and Yellow fungus are rare diseases, it infects person only with the poor or compromised immune system, which means it will not spread that much, but any disease which usually is rare has a high mortality, same goes to Black fungus which has 50 percent of death for people suffering from Aids, Cancer, and Diabetes. So patients suffering from these should be careful. The main cause of the spread of this fungus is due to Air, so the surroundings should be cleaned. Make sure not to have decayed fruits and vegetables by storing them properly, also take care of your body.

If you are a healthy person with no health issues chance of getting infected is very rare, but the mortality rate is quite a risk factor and there is a famous saying “Prevention is Better than Cure “, So make sure to look at the causes and try to prevent them, Other causes of black fungus can be Overuse of Antibiotics, Zinc supplements and the main and one of the shocking one would be steam inhalation.

Steam inhalation, which was suggested by many people and was also said to be one of the cures to COVID-19. Steam inhalation will increase the chance of getting the fungus due to Air deeply breathed by us during inhaling steam. Also, steam has many pores which increase the risk.

The only reason why Black fungus outrage was faced in India was due to the wrong use of Steroids for Covid. Some doctors claim that unnecessary prescription of Steroids made some patient's immune system low which made Black fungus infect easily. So usage of steroids should be only when SP02 level is below 90 or with a proper prescription.