The infection, technically called mucormycosis, appears to be mostly affecting diabetics who have recovered from COVID-19.
Mucormycosis is a rare but serious fungal infection in the sinuses and lungs. It can lead to black patches on the nose, blurred or double vision, and one-sided facial swelling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It s acquired through contact with fungal spores found in soil, plants, and manure.
Endocrinologists told Insider that, while black fungus is not new, the pandemic appears to have created the perfect storm.
People with diabetes have slightly dampened immune systems, meaning they already have an elevated risk of contracting black fungus. COVID-19, which worse-affects people with diabetes, increases that risk even more. And then there are steroids, a medicine sometimes used to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients, that can dampen the immune system.
Rush staff members collaborated with Malcom X College to provide content including video scenarios and conversation advice, for a new Vaccine Ambassador Course
US doctors group issues anti-racism plan for itself, field
LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
May 11, 2021
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1of3FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 file photo, a doctor wears a stethoscope around his neck as he tends to patients in his office in Illinois. On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, the American Medical Association released a comprehensive plan aimed at dismantling structural racism inside its own ranks and within the U.S. medical establishment.Jeff Roberson/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3FILE - This Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 file photo shows Dr. Raymond Givens at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York. On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, the American Medical Association released a comprehensive plan to dismantle structural racism inside its own ranks and within the U.S. medical establishment. ‘’People are dying on a daily basis from the same structural racism that they are now acknowledging,’’ Givens says. ‘’Given that, there’s a need to
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Jack Crowe felt a little something in his neck. When symptoms of a chest cold followed, Crowe and his wife left their cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and started driving home to Chicago.
Was it COVID-19? Crowe made a telehealth appointment with Rush University Medical Center to find out. Still far from home, Crowe told an ABC News affiliate, he was connected to a virtual care provider in five minutes.
That provider, nurse practitioner Nicole Marks, told the ABC affiliate that Crowe’s chest pain and shortness of breath were “red flags.” Crowe needed to be seen by a doctor immediately. Taking Marks’ advice, Crowe sought emergency care at a Wisconsin hospital. There, he was diagnosed with aortic dissection, a rare and serious condition of a tear in the main artery that carries blood from the heart.
Lindsey Tanner
FILE - This Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 file photo shows Dr. Raymond Givens at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York. On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, the American Medical Association released a comprehensive plan to dismantle structural racism inside its own ranks and within the U.S. medical establishment. ââPeople are dying on a daily basis from the same structural racism that they are now acknowledging,ââ Givens says. ââGiven that, thereâs a need to act as quickly as is responsible.ââ (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) May 11, 2021 - 1:58 PM
The nationâs largest doctors group Tuesday released a comprehensive plan aimed at dismantling structural racism inside its own ranks and within the U.S. medical establishment.