Colour terms for fungal infections throw people into a tizzy

In the second wave, there are some unusual things happening which were not there in the first wave. Dr Samiran Panda, the Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said the use of "terms like black, green or yellow fungus" is making people scared and apprehensive.

Also, black fungus getting synonymous with existing mucormycosis is complicating things. People should become panicky by colour of fungus —black, yellow, white. Let us find what kind of fungal infection is the person infected with as most fungal infections that cause fatal or severe disease are invasive fungal infection so that can occur when there is reduction or compromise in immunity. "So basic underlying phenomenon is immunity or the ability to fight the fungal infection," he said.

In Ghaziabad, a person was detected with three variants of the fungus—Black, White and Yellow—on May 24, claimed a doctor of a private hospital who is treating the 59-year-old patient in the NCR city in Uttar Pradesh.

Yellow Fungus has been observed in reptiles, such as lizards, but not in human beings, claimed Dr B P Tyagi, an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) specialist at Harsh Hospital in city's Raj Nagar area. He said fungi attack people with compromised immunity.

The doctors say that there are prescribed anti-fungal medicines to treat the infection. But all that the government's should do is to ensure that there was no black marketing as we had seen in case of injections like Remidesvir.