Three more patients who had contracted black fungus (mucormycosis), which is not communicable, have died in a private hospital in Udupi district. With this, the death toll due to black fungus in the district has touched five.
Sources in the Department of Health and Family Welfare said that a 45-year-old man from Chitradurga and a 43- year-old woman from Haveri died at Kasturba Hospital in Manipal on Friday. Another patient, a 48-year-old man from Shivamogga, died in the same hospital on Saturday.
They said that the district had eight active cases of mucormycosis. Among them, six are being treated at Kasturba Hospital in Manipal and two are at Adarsha Hospital in Udupi.
ADVERTISEMENT
A Health Department official said that people who were administered steroids during the course of treatment for COVID-19 got black fungus and those whose immunity was compromised also got it.
Udupi district recorded three positive cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. There are 749 active COVID-19 cases in the district.
Meanwhile, Dakshina Kannada has so far reported 24 deaths owing to mucormycosis. Of them, six are from Dakshina Kannada and 18 from other districts.
ADVERTISEMENT
The district had 23 active black fungus cases. Of them seven are from Dakshina Kannada and 16 from other districts. As many as 40 patients who had contracted it have been discharged after treatment.
Dakshina Kannada reported four deaths due to COVID-19 and 269 new cases. With 239 patients being discharged the active cases stood at 2,105.