Following directions by the Union government, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday officially declared Mucormycosis or ‘Black Fungus’ as an epidemic disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act- 1897.
The H&ME Department of the J&K government took to Twitter this afternoon to make the announcement.
“Under section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act 1897(Act no.3 of 1897) the Government of J&K notifies Mucormycosis as an Epidemic, ” Health and Medical Education Department J&K wrote on its Twitter handle.
Pertinently, the government of India recently directed the states and union territories to make black fungus a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act.
Jammu and Kashmir reported the first death due to black fungus on Friday with a 40-year-old COVID-19 recovered patient from Poonch succumbing to the fungus at GMC Jammu.
On Sunday, Head of CD Hospital, Dr Naveed Nazir Shah quoted HoD Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Government Dental College Srinagar saying that one case of Mucormycosis was successfully operated at the institution in November while another “strong suspect” case is admitted there.