NEW DELHI -- Already grappling with a deadly second wave of the coronavirus, India is now faced with a new challenge: an alarming rise in cases of mucormycosis, a rare but potentially fatal infection also known as black fungus.
The fungal disease -- which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says has a fatality rate of 54% -- has been reported among several thousand people, mostly diabetics recovering or having recovered from COVID-19. Several Indian states have declared black fungus an epidemic, prompting calls for the national government to stockpile the drug used in its treatment.
