The Egyptian Ministry of Health has decided to allocate rooms for the health reservation of patients infected with black fungus as a precautionary measure in anticipation of potential cases appearing in various governorates, particularly with high-level warnings from the World Health Organization about the fungal disease that has spread significantly due to the Indian variant of the coronavirus.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health has initially identified the governorates of Matrouh, Sohag, Alexandria, Fayoum, and Sharqia for the reservation of black fungus patients, indicating that the disease is not contagious at all but rather comes as a side effect of excessive corticosteroid use, which affects the immune system of the body.
Cases of black fungus infection have already appeared in Egypt among patients with COVID-19 or those recovering from it, as highlighted by the announcement from the family of the late artist Samir Ghanem, who reported his death due to black fungus after recovering from COVID-19 in a private hospital in Cairo.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health revealed in a statement that black fungus has appeared in a limited number of cases in Egypt over the last few decades, although the fungi causing this disease have not spread widely. It was noted that 45 patients were infected with black fungus from 2007 to 2017, with 15 fatalities due to delays in starting treatment.
