Fungi involved: Mucor, Rhizopus, Absidia, Rhizomucor (Order Mucorales, Class Zygomycetes)
The route of infection is through ingestion of fungi present in:
(1) food
(2) herbal medications
(3) contaminated wooden tongue depressors used to mix fluids administered by nasogastric tube
High risk patients:
(1) premature infant
(2) extreme malnutrition
(3) neutropenia
(4) organ transplantation
(5) AIDS
(6) immunosuppressive therapy
Sites of involvement:
(1) stomach
(2) colon
(3) ileum
Clinical findings:
(1) abdominal pain
(2) abdominal distention
(3) fever
(4) hematochezia (blood in stool)
(5) acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage
Complications associated with high mortality:
(1) necrotizing enterocolitis
(2) disseminated fungal infection
Diagnosis usually requires biopsy of infected tissue either at surgery or during endoscopy.
