Over 4% Indians likely to be affected by serious fungal diseases, many of which are lethal, finds study
Over 50 million Indians are affected by serious fungal diseases, 10 per cent of which are from potentially dangerous mould infections, new research has shown.
Experts from All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; AIIMS Kalyani, West Bengal and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, along with the University of Manchester, were involved in the study.
The experts reviewed data from over 400 published academic articles and estimated that 57 million — or 4.4 per cent of the 1.3 billion people who live in India — are likely to be affected.
Vaginal thrush, also called a yeast infection, affects around 24 million women of reproductive age, with repeated attacks. Hair fungal infection or tinea capitis affects a similar number of school-age children and causes an infected scalp leading to hair loss.
Mould infections affecting lungs and sinuses impact over 250,000 people and can possibly cause death. Around 1.7 million people had chronic aspergillosis (which attacks the respiratory system) and 3.5 million had serious allergic lung mould disease.
Over a million are impacted by potentially blinding fungal eye disease. Keratitis is an infection of the clear front layer of the eye (the cornea). Endophthalmitis is an infection of the inside of the eye (the vitreous and/or aqueous humour).
Nearly 200,000 had mucormycosis, or black mould, caused by a group of moulds called mucormycetes.
Dr Animesh Ray of AIIMS in Delhi, the lead author of the article, said:
The total burden due to fungal diseases is huge but under-appreciated.
While tuberculosis affects less than 3 million people in a year in India, the number of Indians affected by fungal diseases is several times higher. It is a threat to public health and a cause of considerable socioeconomic burden to those who they infect.
Large parts of India have a limited diagnostic capability, which is indicated by our inability to estimate some diseases, such as histoplasmosis and fungal asthma in children.
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