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Mucormycosis

Last reviewed: 23 Sep 2025
Last updated: 11 Apr 2025

Summary

Definition

History and exam

Key diagnostic factors

  • sinus and facial pain
  • eye pain, blurred vision
  • proptosis
  • cranial nerve palsies
  • dry cough, with or without dyspnea
  • skin nodules
Full details

Other diagnostic factors

  • fever
  • periorbital cellulitis
  • viscid, dark brown-black nasal discharge
  • focal sensory/motor neurologic deficits and altered mental status
  • necrotic eschar
  • hemoptysis
  • abdominal pain and distension
  • gastrointestinal bleeding
  • peritonitis
Full details

Risk factors

  • diabetes mellitus ± diabetic ketoacidosis
  • hematologic malignancy
  • neutropenia
  • iron overload or use of deferoxamine
  • use of corticosteroids
  • hematopoietic and solid organ transplantation, graft-versus-host disease
  • breakdown of skin and soft tissue
  • malnutrition
  • prematurity
  • liver cirrhosis
Full details

Diagnostic tests

1st tests to order

  • CBC
  • basic metabolic profile
  • ABG
  • urinalysis
  • serum ketone level
  • CT sinuses and brain
  • MRI sinuses and brain
  • CT chest with contrast
  • nasal endoscopy
  • gastrointestinal endoscopy
Full details

Tests to consider

  • bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage and/or transbronchial biopsy fungal culture
  • histopathology of biopsy
  • microbiology of biopsy
Full details

Emerging tests

  • polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Treatment algorithm

ACUTE

suitable for surgery

unsuitable for surgery

ONGOING

treatment failure

Contributors

Authors

Rachana M. Palnitkar, MD
Rachana M. Palnitkar

Infectious Diseases

Private Practice

Los Gatos

CA

Раскрытие информации

RMP declares that she has no competing interests.

Michael Sands, MD, MPH & TM, FIDSA
Michael Sands

Professor of Medicine

College of Medicine

University of Florida

Jacksonville

FL

Раскрытие информации

MS declares that he has no competing interests.

Рецензенты

Michail Lionakis, MD, ScD

Infectious Diseases Fellow

Laboratory of Molecular Immunology

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

NIH

Bethesda

MD

Раскрытие информации

ML declares that he has no competing interests.

Rachael Morris-Jones, PhD, FRCP, PCME

Dermatology Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer

Kings College Hospital

London

UK

Раскрытие информации

RMJ declares that she has no competing interests.

Peer reviewer acknowledgements

BMJ Best Practice topics are updated on a rolling basis in line with developments in evidence and guidance. The peer reviewers listed here have reviewed the content at least once during the history of the topic.

Disclosures

Peer reviewer affiliations and disclosures pertain to the time of the review.

Список литературы

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Основные статьи

Pham D, Howard-Jones AR, Sparks R, et al. Epidemiology, modern diagnostics, and the management of mucorales infections. J Fungi (Basel). 2023 Jun 12;9(6):659.Полный текст  Аннотация

Spellberg B, Edwards J Jr, Ibrahim A. Novel perspectives on mucormycosis: pathophysiology, presentation, and management. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2005 Jul;18(3):556-69.Полный текст  Аннотация

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mucormycosis: clinical overview of mucormycosis. Apr 2024 [internet publication].Полный текст

Cornely OA, Alastruey-Izquierdo A, Arenz D, et al. Global guideline for the diagnosis and management of mucormycosis: an initiative of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology in cooperation with the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium. Lancet Infect Dis. 2019 Dec;19(12):e405-21.Полный текст  Аннотация

Статьи, указанные как источники

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