HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED MUCORMYCOSIS (RHIZOPUS-RHIZOPODIFORMIS) OF SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUE - EPIDEMIOLOGY, MYCOLOGY AND TREATMENT

INFECTIONS due to fungi of the class zygomycetes and order mucorales (rhizopus, mucor and absidia) are well recognized complications in the host compromised by underlying hematologic cancer or immunosuppressive therapy,1 2 3 diabetes mellitus4 or thermal burns5,6 and, rarely, in otherwise healthy people.7 Usual clinical involvement includes the classic rhinocerebral type,4 invasive pulmonary or disseminated disease,2 and an intestinal form.2 Primary skin infection is rare.8 Recently, a new epidemiologic association has been proposed by Keys et al., who reported a nosocomial outbreak of skin and subcutaneous Rhizopus oryzae infection in six patients, implicating contaminated Elastoplast bandage as the source of the infectious. © 1978, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.