Black fungus found in man after Covid recovery

Black fungus has been detected in a patient at Dhaka Medical College Hospital days after he recovered from Covid-19.

The 45-year-old male patient tested positive for the virus nearly a month ago, said Dr Farhad Uddin Maruf Chowdhury, registrar of the medicine department at the hospital.

The patient was admitted to the DMCH about a week ago with post-Covid complications and problems in his right eye.

Doctors suspected that he was suffering from mucormycosis, known as black fungus, and collected samples after conducting a surgery in his nose, Farhad told this newspaper yesterday.

The samples were sent to Birdem Hospital and the results indicated that he had black fungus.

"The patient is under treatment... He had breathing problems before the operation. But he is doing better now. We hope he will recover gradually," said Farhad.

A black fungus infection can turn critical for someone with a compromised immune system. Those with uncontrolled diabetes are also at high risk.

Health experts, however, said there is no reason to panic as people of all ages are not at risk.

Earlier in May at Birdem Hospital, black fungus was detected in two patients who had recovered from Covid.