Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Jul 4;5(3):57.
doi: 10.3390/jof5030057.

Necrotizing Mucormycosis of Wounds Following Combat Injuries, Natural Disasters, Burns, and Other Trauma

Thomas J Walsh  1 , Duane R Hospenthal  2 , Vidmantas Petraitis  3 , Dimitrios P Kontoyiannis  4
Affiliations
Review

Necrotizing Mucormycosis of Wounds Following Combat Injuries, Natural Disasters, Burns, and Other Trauma

Thomas J Walsh et al. J Fungi (Basel). .

Abstract

Necrotizing mucormycosis is a devastating complication of wounds incurred in the setting of military (combat) injuries, natural disasters, burns, or other civilian trauma. Apophysomyces species, Saksenaea species and Lichtheimia (formerly Absidia) species, although uncommon as causes of sinopulmonary mucormycosis, are relatively frequent agents of trauma-related mucormycosis. The pathogenesis of these infections likely involves a complex interaction among organism, impaired innate host defenses, and biofilms related to traumatically implanted foreign materials. Effective management depends upon timely diagnosis, thorough surgical debridement, and early initiation of antifungal therapy.

Keywords: antifungal therapy; mucormycosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

D.P.K. acknowledges the Texas 4000 Distinguished Professorship for Cancer Research and the NIH-NCI Cancer Center CORE Support grant no. 16672. D.P.K. reports research support from Astellas Pharma and honoraria for lectures from Merck & Co., Gilead, and United Medical. He has served as a consultant for Astellas Pharma, Cidara, Amplyx, and Mayne, and on the advisory board of Merck & Co. He also reports fees from consultancy and board membership from Pfizer, Astellas, and Schering. T.J.W. has received grants for experimental and clinical antimicrobial pharmacology and therapeutics to his institution from Allergan, Amplyx, Astellas, Lediant, Medicines Company, Merck, Scynexis, Viosera, and Tetraphase and has served as consultant to Amplyx, Astellas, Allergan, ContraFect, Gilead, Lediant, Medicines Company, Merck, Methylgene, Pfizer, and Scynexis.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathogenesis of Wound Related Mucormycosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Roden M.M., Zaoutis T.E., Buchanan W.L., Knudsen T.A., Sarkisova T.A., Schaufele R.L., Sein M., Sein T., Chiou C.C., Chu J.H., et al. Epidemiology and Outcome of Zygomycosis: A Review of 929 Reported Cases. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2005;41:634–653. doi: 10.1086/432579. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Petrikkos G., Lortholary O., Walsh T.J., Skiada A., Roilides E., Kontoyiannis D.P. Epidemiology and Clinical Manifestations of Mucormycosis. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2012;54(Suppl. 1):S23–S34. doi: 10.1093/cid/cir866. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tribble D.R., Rodriguez C.J. Combat-Related Invasive Fungal Wound Infections. Curr. Fungal Infect. Rep. 2014;8:277–286. doi: 10.1007/s12281-014-0205-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kronen R., Liang S.Y., Bochicchio G., Bochicchio K., Powderly W.G., Spec A. Invasive Fungal Infections Secondary to Traumatic Injury. Int. J. Infect. Dis. 2017;62:102–111. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2017.07.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Devauchelle P., Jeanne M., Frealle E. Mucormycosis in Burns Patients. J. Fungi. 2019;5:25. doi: 10.3390/jof5010025. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources