Post-COVID-19 mucormycosis: Adding fuel to the fire

In India, thousands of COVID-19 patients are suffering from mucormycosis, a deadly fungal infection. Mucormycosis is an infection caused by a group of filamentous molds belonging to the order Mucorales and class Zygomycetes. Typically, mucormycosis is called black fungus disease. The infection primarily affects diabetics and immunocompromised patients. Infections caused by this fungal infection can be divided into four types: rhino-orbito-cerebral, cutaneous, disseminated, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal types. The mortality rate is higher even when aggressive treatment has been administered once it is detected or diagnosed. A multimodal approach to mucormycosis management involves reversing or discontinuing the predisposing factors, administering active antifungal agents at optimal doses, removing all infected tissues, and employing adjuvant therapy. The purpose of this review is to provide brief details related to the etiopathogenesis, fatality, diagnosis, and treatment of mucormycosis. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

A ppe kit supply chain management system using block chain smart contract

The significant growth of Block chain technology has increasingly attracted the attention of different industries. At present every nation is preparing itself to fight against the humanitarian emergency of COVID 19 which have led to risk of lives of the frontline workers. Around the world steady progress is being made to increase the connectivity of health care infrastructure. Every nation is working hard towards making infrastructure available to tackle the communicable diseases and prevent further emergence of pandemic like this in future. Several technologies are being used to combat COVID 29 such as artificial intelligence for research, 5G to increase information transmission speed, and more. To prevent the health workers from getting infected it is required to take special precautions while providing treatments to the infected patients. With rapid increase in number of cases of Covid19 infected patients there is a huge demand for the Personal protective equipment (PPE) kits - a protective shield for the health workers, all over the world. Increasing demand poses various challenges like malpractices of black marketing, circulation of cheaper and sub standardized commodities and subjective price hike. Most of the malpractices are impacting the sale of these kits as well. Block chain technology can play an important role in helping governments and institutions respond to COVID-19 by integrating with healthcare and supply chains. This paper compares the current PPE kit supply chain management system and proposes a block chain based approach coupled with smart contract application to provide transparency and efficiency in PPE kit supply chain management. © 2020 Common Ground Research Networks. All rights reserved.

Disinfection Measures during COVID-19 for Dental Operatories

Background: In the dental health-care setups, the environmental object and surfaces are expected to be infected by the COVID virus wherein definite procedures are performed. Consequently, these objects and surfaces, particularly where COVID-19 patients are being treated, must be appropriately cleaned and sanitized to stop further spread. Objective: The present article is intended for providing protocols about the cleaning and disinfection of objects and surfaces in the circumstances of COVID-19 for Dental operatories. Methods: Studies evaluating the surface characteristics of the virus as well as effective disinfection measures have been documented. Results: Various chemicals in different concentrations have a virocidal effect. The devices introduced include used UV radiation and ozone. Conclusion: These changes in dental clinical practice are needed to save humanity by preventing further transmission of disease.