JAMMU: A 56-year-old man admitted to the Government Medical College (GMC) here is suspected to be suffering from black fungus or mucormycosis, officials said on Tuesday.
He was admitted to the hospital last week and has undergone all necessary tests, the officials said.
“The patient is under clinical suspicion and his test report is expected tomorrow (Wednesday),” said Shahi Sudan Sharma, principal, GMC.
She, however, said there is no need to panic as black fungus is not contagious like COVID-19.
“Black fungus has always been there. Black fungus usually targets Covid-recovered persons with uncontrolled diabetes or those who have been administered prolonged or unsupervised dosage of steroids besides patients with weak immunity,” she said.
Sharma appealed to the public to keep following Covid appropriate behaviour in order to avoid Covid-related and post-Covid issues.
On Friday, a 40-year-old man succumbed to mucormycosis at the GMC here, marking the union territory”s first death due to the fungal infection.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday declared mucormycosis an epidemic, making it mandatory for all government and private health facilities and medical colleges to report suspected and confirmed cases to the health department through district-level officers and Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP). (AGENCY)