What is mucormycosis? Why is it important to know about black fungus..what makes it a more dreadful disease …should we not give a thought why wasn’t it heard ever in the past despite patients existing with an immunocompromised condition, a question we all need to understand and know facts about it.
Everyone knows that its fungal infection caused by Mucormycetes despite 1,44,000 species of fungus that exist only a few are pathogenic to humankind the rest plays important role in degrading organic matter and helping to maintain the ecosystem balance.
Why didn’t we ever heard about this condition previously that is because the human body has a very good immune mechanism to fight any sort of infection and can eliminate any kind of fungal infection unless the immunity is not hampered else fungal infection can be lethal and we all know about its consequences after seeing a daily episode in covid patients?
Patients susceptible to mucormycosis:
- Patients who are diabetic
- Patients on steroids
- Blood malignancies
- Malnourished patients
- Patients with organ transfer as they are on immunosuppressants
- And most recently Covid -19 patients
All these conditions are associated with alteration in the immune system and henceforth are at high risk to get affected
Mucormycosis is also known as zygomycosis (Rhino-orbital-cerebral-mucormycosis) affecting most of the maxilla, orbit, and brain causing tissue necrosis and death due to invasion of the blood vessel.
Most of the symptoms are more often seen inside the oral cavity and face, where they appear as black lesion spreading vigorously to the nasal cavity, sinus invading maxillary bone, nasal cavity, hard palate and once it reaches the orbit patients may show clinical features like swelling below eyes, severe pain, no eye movement…inside oral cavity the teeth becomes increasingly mobile, sometimes multiple lesion patches can be seen all along the upper jaw henceforth dentist are again the best to diagnose Mucormycosis.
Symptoms to lookout?
Persistent headache can be the earliest symptoms as fungus usually starts affecting the sinus initially
One-sided swelling below the eyes or on half of the face is another common symptom
- Facial discoloration
- Nasal blockage
- Tooth loosening
All these symptoms are related to the orofacial region and henceforth we dentist are the best person to diagnose it henceforth if any symptoms persist visit us at Pathak Dental Clinic.
Find the clinic here: Get direction
Address: 11/11 Akurdi Chikhli Road, Near Dwarka Collection, Kasturi market, Sambhaji Nagar, Thermax Chowk, Below Nutan Jewellers, Chinchwad, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Maharashtra 411019
