Understanding Mucormycosis Symptoms and Causes.
                     Understanding 
Mucormycosis: 
Symptoms and 
Causes
Introduction
• Mucormycosis is a serious, potentially deadly 
fungal infection that's infrequently diagnosed.
• Many different fungi may cause Mucormycosis; 
infections with the Mucoraceae family of fungi 
predominate as causes; hence, many 
investigators use the term Mucormycosis 
instead of zygomycotic.
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Source: www.medicinenet.com
Symptoms 
• fever
• headache
• reddish and swollen skin over nose and 
sinuses
• dark scabbing in the nose by eye
• visual problems
• eye swelling
• facial pain
• coughing sometimes with bloody or dark fluid 
production
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Source: www.medicinenet.com
What causes 
Mucormycosis?
• Zygomycetes represent the general class of 
fungi that cause mucormycosis. 
• Rhizopus arrhizus species from the 
Mucoraceae family are the most identified 
cause of mucormycosis in humans.
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Source: www.medicinenet.com
Who gets 
mucormycosis?
• Mucormycosis is rare, but it’s more common 
among people who have health problems or 
take medicines that lower the body’s ability to 
fight germs and sickness. 
• Certain groups of people are more likely to get 
mucormycosis, including people with:
• Diabetes, especially with diabetic 
ketoacidosis
• Cancer
• Organ transplant
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Source: www.medicinenet.com
How is mucormycosis 
diagnosed?
• Mucormycosis is diagnosed by looking at a 
tissue sample in the lab. 
• Your doctor may collect a sample of phlegm or 
nasal discharge if you have a suspected sinus 
infection. 
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Source: www. healthline.com
Can mucormycosis 
cause other conditions 
to develop?
• Mucormycosis is particularly dangerous 
because it spreads quickly throughout the 
body. Left untreated, the infection can spread 
to the lungs or the brain. This can cause:
• a brain infection
• paralysis
• pneumonia
• seizures
• death
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Source: www. healthline.com
How is mucormycosis 
treated?
• The first steps in treating mucormycosis are 
receiving intravenous antifungal medications 
and having surgical debridement. 
• Surgical debridement involves cutting away all 
infected tissue. 
• Removing infected tissue has been shown to 
prevent the infection from spreading further.
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Source: www. healthline.com
What is the outlook for 
mucormycosis?
• Chances for mucormycosis recovery depend 
greatly on early diagnosis and treatment. 
• The infection has the potential to spread 
throughout the body. Death is a possibility with 
this type of severe infection.
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Source: www. healthline.com
Information for Healthcare 
Professionals about 
Mucormycosis
• There are five major clinical forms of 
mucormycosis; of these, rhino cerebral and 
pulmonary infections are the most common. 
• A classic clinical sign of mucormycosis is the 
rapid onset of tissue necrosis with or without 
fever. 
• Necrosis is the result of invasion of blood 
vessels and subsequent thrombosis.
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Source: www.cdc.gov
How common is 
Mucormycosis?
• Mucormycosis is rare, but the exact number of 
cases is difficult to determine because no 
national surveillance exists in the United 
States. 
• Population-based incidence estimates for 
mucormycosis were obtained from laboratory 
surveillance in the San Francisco Bay Area 
during 1992–1993 and suggested a yearly rate 
of 1.7 cases per 1 million population. 
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Source: www.cdc.gov