Indolent cutaneous mucormycosis with pulmonary dissemination in an asthmatic patient: Survival after local debridement and amphotericin B therapy

We describe a 68-year-old asthmatic female patient with multiple pulmonary cavities. A preexisting ecthyma on the left lower leg became erythematous a nd swollen during exacerbation of her asthma which was under treatment with high-dose steroids. Nonseptate broad hyphae were found in her sputum, pus from the wound, and debrided skin tissue. Hematogenous spread of septic emb oli from indolent cutaneous mucormycosis to both lungs was the suspected me chanism or dissemination. High-dose steroid therapy may have been the major contributory factor. The patient was successfully treated with local surgi cal debridement of the wound and intravenous amphotericin B.