Mucormycosis - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Mucormycosis frequently involves the sinuses, brain, or lungs as the areas of infection. While oral or cerebral mucormycosis are the most common types of the disease, this infection can also manifest in the gastrointestinal tract, skin, and in other organ systems. In rare cases, the maxilla may be affected by mucormycosis. The rich vascularity of maxillofacial areas usually prevents fungal infections, although more virulent fungi, such as those responsible for mucormycosis, can often overcome this difficulty.

There are several key signs which point towards mucormycosis. One such sign is fungal invasion into the vascular network which results in thrombosis and death of surrounding tissue by loss of blood supply. If the disease involves the brain then symptoms may include a one-sided headache behind the eyes, facial pain, fevers, nasal stuffiness that progresses to black discharge, and acute sinusitis along with swelling of the eye. Affected skin may appear relatively normal during the earliest stages of infection. This skin quickly progresses to an erythemic (reddening, occasionally with edema) stage, before eventually turning black due to necrosis. In other forms of mucormycosis, such as pulmonary, cutaneous, or disseminated mucormycosis, symptoms may also include dyspnea (difficulty breathing), and persistent cough; in cases of necrosis, symptoms include nausea and vomiting, coughing blood, and abdominal pain.