According to the Indian website Scroll, a study in the United States said cow dung may be the cause of a mucormycosis epidemic in India in 2021 that kills and maimed thousands of people.
A number of covid-19 survivors in India were infected with mucormycosis, and some patients were blind. Infographic
Cow dung is widely used in India for fuel and some religious rituals, and is even revered by local politicians and religious figures for its use in preventing and treating the new crown virus. Medical researchers now believe that cow dung may be the cause of the mucormycosis epidemic that killed and maimed in India in 2021.
In May 2021, during the second wave of COVID-19 in India, an epidemic of mucormycosis occurred among people infected with COVID-19, with India accounting for 71% of all cases of mucormycosis infection worldwide. As of last November, 51,775 cases of mucormycosis had been recorded in India.
A traditional festival in India is full of cow dung. Infographic
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mucormycosis is a dangerous infection caused by the fungus of the order Mucormyces. Mucormycosis is characterized by rapid onset, rapid progression and high mortality. In severe cases, the fatality rate can exceed 50%. Because the affected area becomes black or discolored, it is also called "Black Fungus".
Indian media pointed out that the mucormycete fungus is a fecal fungus that feeds on the excrement of herbivores, and India has the largest herd of cattle in the world, with about 3 billion heads.
The research paper, published in April in the journal mBio of the American Society for Microbiology, hypothesized that considering that cow dung rich in mucormycete fungi is used in a variety of rituals and customs in India, especially during the pandemic, this may have played a key role in the Indian mucormycosis epidemic.
Infographic
Jesse Scalia, an independent researcher from Houston, Texas, one of the paper's authors, said most doctors and researchers attribute the unusually high incidence of mucormycosis in India to diabetes and steroid treatments for COVID-19 infection.
"However, because the same factors exist in other countries, we looked at unique local causes in India that may increase the exposure of mucormycetes [to covid-19 infected], such as smoke from burning cow dung," Scaria said. ”
In parts of India, some common rituals include applying cow dung to the body, drinking cow urine, and burning and inhaling cow dung smoke during festivals, prayers or cremations, as a form of ritual purification, the paper said. Cattle are considered a sacred animal in India and are not allowed to be slaughtered in many indian states.
(Edit: DXY)