Source tracing to identify mucor ‘hotspots’ in Nagpur city

NAGPUR: Taking the battle against black fungus one step ahead, mucormycosis task force and health officials have decided to study patients’ data procured from hospitals to zero down upon the source of their infection and to identify ‘mucor hotspots’. This will help the administration in better management of the disease at highly concentrated specific zones.
While Covid hotspot was associated with restrictions, barricading and contact tracing, the one related to mucormycosis is expected to be revolving more around studies of the fungal growth, its pattern, risk factors, spread and disease control at particular locations.
Sources in the mucormycosis task force also stated that scientists from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri) would be roped in to address environmental issues of such hotspots where concentration of the fungal growth and spread would be found more in comparison to adjacent areas.
In its meeting last week, mucormycosis task force, now expanded to 22 members with the inclusion of infectious disease specialists, microbiologists and other experts, has decided to undertake elaborate study on the pattern of fungal infection, its spread and possible counter-mechanisms to save the populace. The meeting was chaired by collector Ravindra Thakare.
The study is expected to kick off shortly following the guidelines of the high court which had instructed the district administration to keep no stone unturned to eradicate the disease from the root.
Microbiologist Dr Dinesh Agrawal, part of the mucormycosis task team, said hospitals would be provided a fixed proforma to fill in the details of patients suffering from the fungal infection. This shall act as a database for the study of the infection source. “The main objective of the study would be to ascertain whether a patient had actually come to the hospital with some other health problems like Covid and ended up developing the fungal infection or the patient had come directly with the complaints of mucormycosis and got admitted,” said the microbiologists.
“If he or she had got admitted with mucormycosis directly, then from which area did the patient come from would be the key question. According to the findings, the source of the infection would be identified, studied and acted upon whether hospital or an area and it’s related factors,” said Dr Agrawal. He also added that hospitals in city would be first covered in the study.
Dr Sanjay Chilkar, NMC chief medical officer, said plan is to ensure each case of mucormycosis is traced to ascertain the source of infection. It it is found that several patients of the fungal infection are being reported from a particular zone, it would be earmarked as ‘mucor hotspot’.
Dr Anup Marar, convenor of Vidarbha Hospitals Association (VHA), said the root cause of the fungal disease has kept everyone on the toes. “Such kind of epidemiological research will help the NMC and task force to come out with more striking revelations and findings which may take the causation of the disease beyond the obvious reasons encountered so far. Other than hospital-acquired infection, we may also come across locality specific origin of the disease,” he said.