Mucormycosis

Definition

Mucormycosis is a rare but often fatal disease caused by certain fungi. It is sometimes called zygomycosis or phycomycosis. Mucormycosis is an opportunistic infection that typically develops in patients with weakened immune systems, diabetes, kidney failure, organ transplants, or chemotherapy.

Description

In the United States, mucormycosis is most likely to develop in the patient's nasal area or in the lungs.

Rhinocerebral mucormycosis is an infection of the nose, eyes, and brain. The fungus destroys the tissue of the nasal passages, sinuses, or hard palate, producing a black discharge and visible patches of dying tissue. The fungus then invades the tissues around the eye socket and eventually the brain.

Most patients with the pulmonary form of the disease are being treated for leukemia. The fungus enters the patient's lungs, where it eventually invades a major blood vessel, causing the patient to cough up blood or hemorrhage into the lungs.

— Rebecca J. Frey

(medicine) An acute, usually fulminating fungus infection of humans caused by several genera of Mucorales, including Absidia, Rhizopus, and Mucor.

See zygomycosis.