Fungemia and cutaneous zygomycosis due to Mucor circinelloides in an intensive care unit patient: case report and review of literature

Jpn J Infect Dis. 2009 Mar;62(2):146-8.

Abstract

Mucor spp. are rarely pathogenic in healthy adults, but can cause fatal infections in patients with immuosuppression and diabetes mellitus. Documented mucor fungemia is a very rare condition in the literature. We described a fungemia and cutaneous mucormycosis case due to Mucor circinelloides in an 83-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus who developed acute left frontoparietal infarctus while hospitalized in a neurological intensive care unit. The diagnosis was made based on the growth of fungi in the blood, skin biopsy cultures, and a histopathologic examination of the skin biopsy. The isolates were identified as M. circinelloides by molecular methods. This case is important in that it shows a case of cutaneous mucormycosis which developed after fungemia and provides a contribution to the literature regarding Mucor fungemia.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Animals
  • Dermatomycoses / microbiology*
  • Diabetes Complications
  • Female
  • Fungemia / microbiology*
  • Humans
  • Intensive Care Units
  • Mucor / isolation & purification*
  • Myocardial Infarction / complications
  • Zygomycosis / microbiology*