A dangerous infection called “black fungus” is spreading among coronavirus patients in India, jumping from a handful of cases seen in the past decade to tens of thousands in the past month, USA Today reports.

The spread of the black fungus, known as mucormycosis, complicates an already dangerous situation in India, where medical systems are stretched past their limits to treat coronavirus patients, with 350,000 new COVID cases reported daily.

Mucormycosis enters the body through the sinuses and can attack the respiratory system, skin, bones in the face and the brain.  It also attacks the eyes, destroying sight by infecting eyes from the sinuses and in severe cases, requiring surgical removal of the eyes.  The infection creates black lesions on the face as necrosis eats away the patients’ flesh. 

The fatality rate for people who contract mucormycosis is 46% for patients who only get a sinus infection to 97% who have the infection spread throughout their systems.  Treating a mucormycosis infection expends significant resources at hospitals, which are in short supply in India.

“We’ve seen this skyrocket in recent weeks,” Dr. Bhakti Hansoti, associate professor in the department of emergency medicine and international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said. “It consumes a lot of resources especially during this pandemic right now in India where health care resources are stretched at the limit.”

Other regions around the world are also seeing increases in fungal infections, though not as deadly as mucormycosis.  In Europe, South America and the United States, doctors are seeing moderate increases in aspergillosis, a fungal infection caused by a common mold.  The increased infections are directly related to the compromise of sinuses and the respiratory system by coronavirus.