New Delhi: According to a study conducted by the ICMR, antibiotics overuse and superbugs can be the cause behind the worsening COVID-19 crisis in India.
ICMR held the study across 10 hospitals including two (Sion and Hinduja) in Mumbai revealed that more than half of the COVID-19 patients died because of the secondary bacterial or fungal infection.
As per the report provided by TOI’s Malathy Iyer, many patients needed strong antibiotics to ward off superbugs. These superbugs cannot be handled with usual antibiotics.
The reports said that drug-resistant variants of Klebsiella pneumonia, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were amongst the most common bacterial infections.
For COVID-19 patients antibiotics are prescribed, which will end up visiting in the hospital for a longer period to protect them against hospital-acquired infection.
The surge in rare infections such as black fungus or mucormycosis is may be due to the overuse of antibiotics and antifungals.
Dr Amitabh Malik, Chief- ENT, Paras Hospital, Gurugram, says that human bodies are regularly beaten by different bacteria and fungi; but, they are kept under control by the immune system.
The immune system renders a breeding ground for these fungi and bacteria to grow and multiply rapidly when it is endangered due to heavy and unreasonable use of steroids, diabetes, or cancer treatment.
He added, “Most diabetic patients suffering from COVID-19, who are being given steroids, have a high chance of being affected by the black fungus. To prevent it, people should stop the misuse of steroids.”
India has been recording several cases of black fungus for the past few weeks.
The Delhi govt, on Thursday, announced that ‘Black Fungus’ (Mucormycosis) is an epidemic in the national capital. More than 600 cases of black fungus are reported.
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