Mucormycosis: a community hospital perspective

Mucormycosis (synonymous with phycomycosis and zygomycosis) is a devastating fungal infection which usually involves patients with diabetes mellitus, often complicated by ketoacidosis, and malignant neoplasms, commonly leukemia and lymphoma. Clinical manifestations include rhinocerebral, pulmonary, disseminated, isolated cerebral, gastrointestinal and cutaneous disease. Common to all forms of mucormycosis is vascular invasion with production of necrotic tissue. The diagnosis is achieved by demonstrating broad, non-septate hyphae with right-angle branching in a tissue biopsy specimen. Successful treatment consists of early diagnosis, intensive systemic antifungal therapy with amphotericin B, aggressive surgical debridement and control of the underlying disease. In our experience with mucormycosis at Huntsville Hospital, the patients were immuno- compromised and the infection was restricted to the lung. Despite use of amphotericin B in all patients, the only one who survived underwent surgical section of infected tissue.