Online conference dwells on Covid-related mucormycosis in Chandigarh

Chandigarh, May 29

The Department of Microbiology, Panjab University, organised an online conference on “Covid-19 associated mucormycosis — Are we doorstep away from next pandemic: Facts and myths” to spread awareness among people about the disease.

The webinar was coordinated by Khem Raj Thakur, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, PU. Chairman and organising secretary Dr Deepak K Rahi gave a brief overview of the programme and discussed how Covid-19 had become an unsolved puzzle, which was getting more complex with the advent of mucormycosis, commonly known as black fungus.

Prof VR Sinha, Dean University Instructions, briefed on the post-Covid complications.

The conference was divided into three technical sessions. The first session chaired by Prof Vijay Prabha, Department of Microbiology, was dedicated to a talk by Dr Nipun Silawat on ‘Mucormycosis and its biology’. Dr Nipun Silawat, Principal Scientist, MP Council of Science and Technology, Bhopal, highlighted that mucormycosis was not a new disease.

The second technical session chaired by Prof Praveen Rishi, Department of Microbiology, PU, was devoted to “Epidemiology, diagnosis and management of mucormycosis in light of Covid-19 Pandemic”. Dr Shivaprakash M Rudramurthy, Senior Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology, PGIMER, explained complications associated with Covid and discussed its epidemiology associated mucormycosis.

In the third technical session, chaired by Prof Kusum Harjai from Department of Microbiology, PU. Dr Manpreet Dhaliwal, DHR Women Scientist, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, PGIMER, delivered a talk on “Host-pathogen Interplay in mucormycosis”. Dr Dhaliwal discussed how closely mucormycosis was related to diabetes in India.—TNS