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| - Fact Check: Don't chicken out on poultry dishes over black fungus fears
A claim is circulating on social media along with the screenshot of an NDTV report saying, "Punjab government has notified the poultry farm as an infected area." India Today's AFWA has found the claim to be misleading.
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India Today Fact Check
Black fungus is not contagious, which means it cannot spread from contact between humans or animals. Also, there is no scientific evidence that the fungus can spread from chicken to humans through consumption.
How does the thought of missing out on your favourite chicken dish feel right now? Won’t you be perturbed if someone told you the chicken you bought at the market might be a source of the deadly black fungus ailing several Indian states at the moment?
Such a claim is circulating on social media along with the screenshot of an NDTV report saying, “Punjab government has notified the poultry farm as an infected area.”
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim is misleading. NDTV has not reported any such thing and the screenshot is morphed. Also, several health experts have confirmed to us that black fungus or mucormycosis is not contagious, i.e. it cannot spread from contact between humans or animals.
Expert speak
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mucormycosis is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes.
Mucormycosis lives throughout the environment and mainly affects people with health problems or those who consume medicines that lower the body’s immunity. People get mucormycosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores, mostly through breathing in the spores.
As the infection started spreading among Covid patients, All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) director Randeep Guleria had called a press meet, listing important factors to prevent the black fungus outbreak. However, neither Guleria nor any other expert has said that the infection would spread from chickens to humans.
For better clarity, AFWA reached out to Dr Aparna Mukherjee, senior scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR); Dr MR Reddy, principal scientist at ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute; and Dr Suneetha Narreddy, senior consultant, infectious diseases at Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad.
Terming the viral claim misleading, Dr Mukherjee said, “Mucormycosis is present throughout the environment, and so, it can probably infect chickens as well. However, mucormycosis is not contagious, i.e. it cannot spread from contact between humans or animals. People are mostly infected by inhaling it through their noses and it is a drop in immunity that normally triggers cases of mucormycosis.”
The same was confirmed by Dr Reddy, who told AFWA, “While chicken can be infected with mucormycosis, there has been no study so far to prove that a person who consumes an infected chicken would also catch the infection. No such case has come to our notice yet.”
Dr Narreddy added, “Mucormycosis is not something that can be hidden even in animals. A fungus-infected animal will smell badly and no person will be able to consume it. So there is no question of consuming a black fungus-infected chicken. Also, the claim that a mucormycosis-infected chicken can spread it to humans is scientifically baseless.”
Health Desk, a Covid-19 resource for journalists powered by public health experts, also confirmed that mucormycosis does not spread between humans and animals. “Chickens (or poultry) with immune problems can develop mucormycosis. However, there is no evidence to suggest that people become infected with mucormycosis by eating cooked chicken. Raw chicken should never be eaten since there is a high risk of food-borne illness from bacteria like camphylobacer and salmonella.” said the Health Desk.
A Twitter thread on what is known so far by experts on causes of black fungus and how people can lower their chances of contracting it can be seen below. The thread was posted by Dr Pramesh CS, director of Tata Memorial Hospital and retweeted by Dr K Vijay Raghavan, principal scientific adviser to the Indian government.
A clear and important thread on Mucor: What they are, how they cause infections, how to treat the infection, how to lower chances of infection, prevent infection, by controlling diabetes, steroid use. Finally, reduce possibilities of getting COVID: Masks, distance, ventilation! https://t.co/wVgEYaaBl7
— Principal Scientific Adviser, Govt. of India (@PrinSciAdvGoI) May 26, 2021
The NDTV report
A simple keyword search led us to the actual NDTV report published on May 8, 2021. The report was on bird flu cases at a poultry farm in Ludhiana, Punjab. There is no mention of Covid-19 or black fungus in the article.
Hence, it is clear that the claim in circulation is misleading. Black fungus is not contagious and there is no scientific evidence to prove the fungus can spread from chickens to humans.
(This story has been published as part of Ekta Consortium a collaboration of six fact-checking organisations in India.)
READ: Fact Check: Fungi inside fridges, on onions not causing black fungus
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