SOS calls for ‘Amphotericin B’ surge on Twitter as cases of black fungus rise in COVID-19 patients

With several states like Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka reporting a shortage in the drug’s supply, people have once again turned to Twitter in an attempt to crowdsource the antifungal medicine.

Urgently Need #AmphotericinB 6 vials/day for 4 weeks#posaconazole 300mg/4 weeks

Patient name : P Anand
Attender: P sujani/jayavardhan
At Yashoda, Somajiguda

Contact no: 9550900388@KTRTRS @HiHyderabad @sugandh @charan_tweetz @RaoKavitha @Shiva_THNews @DonitaJose @KTRoffice pic.twitter.com/LvTHuUFRpV

— Sylvester Mathews (@SylvesterMathw) May 18, 2021

Name: Maireddi Ramesh
Age: 34
Sex: Male
Ward: Out Patient-EMERGENCY
Need Inj. L Amphotericin B 50 mg injection ( quantity 20 )

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Hospital name: care hospital, Banjara hills, Road no-1.
Treating doctor: Dr. N. VISHNU .S. REDDY
contact Raju babu:9989560681

— Harish Shankar .S (@harish2you) May 17, 2021

Name: Jagadeesh
Age: 45
Location: Shamshabad
Suffering from Black fugus
Need *Liposomal amphotericin B injection* for treatment
Contact No :-81069 70153@KTRTRS @KTRoffice pic.twitter.com/DntzRoS509

— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) May 16, 2021

The drug has also made its way into the resource bot by Twitter, covid19-twitter.in.

A search of ‘#AmphotericinB’ on a trend-analysing website shows that the usage of the hashtag has peaked in the last week, especially associated with keywords like ‘urgent’ and ’emergency’. As much as 83.3 percent of the tweets containing the hashtag analysed by the site were from India.

As ordinary citizens scramble for the drug, several people have questioned the government on the shortage of doses.

Youth Congress President Srinivas B, who has been helping supply oxygen and medicines to those in need, tweeted, “First Tocilizumab & Remdesivir for COVID, Now Liposomal amphotericin for black fungus. Hospitals are prescribing injections, families are running pillar to post just to save their loved ones. Injections aren’t available anywhere. Where is the Government of India? (sic)”

Former chief minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje also urged the government to ensure procurement of the drugs at the earliest to prevent black-marketing.

Experts have noted that prolonged use of steroids, those afflicted with diabetes and with reduced-immunity are at a higher risk of contracting the disease.