title: Primary cutaneous mucormycosis caused by Mucor irregularis in an elderly person.
abstract: Primary cutaneous mucormycosis is a rare but often lethal severe fungal infection, which usually occurs in immunocompromised patients. We report a case of primary cutaneous mucormycosis caused by Mucor irregularis in an elderly patient. Seven months after the surgical dissection of the involved skin, cutaneous mucormycosis recurred at the peripheral edge of the skin graft. Shortly subsequent to the administration of liposomal amphotericin B, the remaining skin lesion was excised again. M. irregularis is rarely but increasingly reported as a cause of mucormycosis in immunocompetent individuals, especially in Asian farmers. M. irregularis may be largely disseminated in the soils of Asia and thus the trivial trauma at the time of farm work may be a trigger for the onset. These cases tend to leave severe cosmetic damage even in healthy individuals, although the vital prognosis is not affected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of the Ryukyus Graduate School of Medicine, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.forename: Azusa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katano
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uezato
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003881:Dermatomycoses / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009089:Mucor; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Mucor irregularis; primary cutaneous mucormycosis; zygomycetes