No ‘black fungus’ in Sri Lanka

• a person was diagnosed with a fungal infection but it was not black fungus
• the person a TB patient who had not taken medications for TB was  later tested positive for covid 19

By Easwaran Rutnam

The Government has denied claims that the ‘black fungus’ was detected in Sri Lanka.  

State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Sudarshini Fernandopulle told Daily Mirror that claims a person who tested positive for the coronavirus in Ampara had contracted black fungus, was false.   

There were reports that a person in Ampara who tested positive for Covid had a fungus and that it was black fungus. 

 
However, Minister Fernandopulle said the person was a TB patient who had not taken medications for TB.  
Fernandopulle said the person was diagnosed with a fungal infection but it was not black fungus.  
The patient had also later tested positive for the coronavirus.  

Mucormycosis, a rare and potentially deadly infection also known as black fungus is now spreading across India.  
According to reports, most of those infected in India are coronavirus patients, or those who have recently recovered from Covid-19, whose immune systems have been weakened by the virus or who have underlying conditions -- most notably diabetes.  

Media report said that in the past few weeks, thousands of black fungus cases had been reported across India, with hundreds hospitalized and at least 90 dead.     

• Mucormycosis, a rare and potentially deadly infection also known as black fungus is now spreading across India