Mucormycosis: a case study

Crit Care Nurse. 2000 Feb;20(1):18-23.

Abstract

Throughout the history of mucormycosis, from the first case in humans reported in 1885 by Paltauf, through publication by Gregory et al of the first observation of rhino-orbital cerebral mucormycosis in 1943, to the report by Harris in 1955 of the first known survivor, little has changed in the diagnosis and outcome of this disease. Although mucormycosis of any form--cerebral, cutaneous, rhinocerebral, intestinal, or pulmonary--is still a rarity, it should be suspected in patients who are diabetic or immunocompromised. Administration of amphotericin B, surgical debridement of infected tissue, correction of the underlying cause, and use of adjunctive HBO therapy remain the standard treatments.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antifungal Agents / therapeutic use
  • Biopsy
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Critical Care / methods*
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Humans
  • Hyperbaric Oxygenation
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Mucormycosis / classification
  • Mucormycosis / diagnosis*
  • Mucormycosis / microbiology
  • Mucormycosis / therapy*
  • Nursing Diagnosis
  • Patient Care Planning
  • Prognosis
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents