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A 55-year-old male with diabetes mellitus is admitted with a severe infection of his face. The patient has a very high fever, is in septic shock, and the entire right face appears necrotic. What is the most likely organism?
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Teaching Points
- Mucormycosis is caused by Mucorales fungi, an opportunistic fungus. The fungi commonly infect persons with diabetes mellitus or individuals who are immunosuppressed.
- Mucorales fungi have great potential to invade the local tissues and cause rapid fulminating of the surrounding tissue.
- On microscopy, the fungus is broad-based and has a right-angle appearance. Most patients have a poor prognosis after acquiring mucormycosis.
- Mucormycosis is characterized by hyphae growing around blood vessels and can be life-threatening in patients with diabetes mellitus or those who are severely immunocompromised. "Mucormycosis" and "zygomycosis" often are used interchangeably; however, Zygomycota has been identified as polyphyletic and is not included in fungal classification systems. While zygomycosis includes Entomophthorales, mucormycosis excludes this group.
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PubMed References
| [Clinical high risk factors and prognosis of 25 pulmonary mucormycosis cases]., Wu T,Zhou H,Gu HT,Zhou JY,, Zhonghua yi xue za zhi, 2018 Aug 28 [PubMed PMID: 30220143] | |
| Correction to: Mucormycosis in hospitalized patients at a tertiary care center in Lebanon: a case series., El Zein S,El-Sheikh J,Zakhem A,Ibrahim D,Bazarbachi A,Kanj SS,, Infection, 2018 Sep 14 [PubMed PMID: 30218310] | |
| Cutaneous mucormycosis caused by {i}Saksenaea vasiformis{/i} in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus., Sigera LSM,Gamage KKK,Jayawardena MN,Abeydeera WPH,Malkanthi MA,Jayasekera PI,Patabendige CGUA,Fernando AHN,, Clinical case reports, 2018 Sep [PubMed PMID: 30214752] | |
| Successful Treatment of Concurrent Mucormycosis and Diffuse Alveolar Hemorrhage in a Patient With Newly Diagnosed Systemic Lupus Erythematosus., Seo MR,Bae J,Yeo J,Ryu HJ,Choi HJ,Lee S,Baek HJ,, Archives of rheumatology, 2018 Jun [PubMed PMID: 30207572] | |
| Tongue necrosis secondary to mucormycosis in a diabetic patient: A first case report in Malaysia., Fattah SY,Hariri F,Ngui R,Husman SI,, Journal de mycologie medicale, 2018 Sep [PubMed PMID: 30205883] |
