This is important to understand. The term ‘black fungus’ — or yellow or white fungus for that matter — has no basis in medical terminology. It’s a misnomer. The technical word for the disease is mucormycosis, a non-contagious fungal infection that manifests itself with the skin or areas within the mouth turning into one of these colours. Nor is it something that has cropped up out of the blue — it was first recorded in the 19th century. It’s just that the condition has started affecting people who have recovered from Covid-19 with alarming frequency in the second wave of the pandemic. A dentist recently shared, for example, how a 38-year-old patient she had been treating, who had recovered from Covid-19, developed the disease, losing seven of his teeth within a month. But what exactly causes it? What are the symptoms? Who is most susceptible to it? And what is the correct method of treatment? Two experts give us clarity on these questions, at a time when the right information about this potentially fatal disease is of utmost importance.

Mucormycosis has affected many Covid-19 patients in India