KATHMANDU, June 3: As many as 10 people have been infected with black fungus in the country recently, confirmed the Ministry of Health and Population. 

Of them, eight have come in contact and the remaining two are yet to be contacted, said the ministry’s Spokesperson Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel. The infected are from Nepalgunj, Birgunj and Kathmandu. The infection is said to be linked with COVID-19 infection. 

The symptoms of the black fungus infection include fever, headache, chest pain, blocked nose, breathing difficulties, pain and pressure around the eyes, blurred or double vision etc. Patients may cough up blood and develop a blackish colouration around the nose. The disease is a severe fungal disorder wherein (in some cases) the patients’ eyes and jawbones have to be removed surgically to control the infection. 

The infection has generally attacked diabetes patients and those with low immunity between the age of 45 and 65 and those who have used antibiotics or steroids for long. 

Preventable measures against the infection are wearing clean and dry face masks and gloves, washing hands regularly, using sanitizers and cleaning the nose with salty water.

One dies of black fungus in Dhangadhi

Meanwhile, a black fungus-infected man died on Thursday  morning in Dhangadhi, Kailali. 

The 65-year-old man from Bardagoriya in Kailali district died at Seti Provincial Hospital. He was admitted to the hospital on May 31, said the hospital’s Information Officer Dilip Kumar Shrestha. A biopsy test confirmed black fungus infection in him, he said.

 
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