Skin (cutaneous); after a burn, or other skin injury, in people with leukaemia, poorly controlled diabetes, graft-versus-host disease, HIV and intravenous drug use. Widespread (disseminated); when the infection spreads to other organs via the blood. Signs and symptoms
Signs and symptoms of mucormycosis depend on the location in the body of the infection. Infection usually begins in the mouth or nose and enters the central nervous system via the eyes.If the fungal infection begins in the nose or sinus and extends to brain, symptoms and signs may include one-sided eye pain or headache, and may be accompanied by pain in the face, numbness, fever, loss of smell, a blocked nose or runny nose. The person may appear to have sinusitis. The face may look swollen on one side, with rapidly progressing "black lesions" across the nose or upper inside of mouth. One eye may look swollen and bulging, and vision may be blurred.Fever, cough, chest pain, and difficulty breathing, or coughing up blood, can occur when the lungs are involved. A stomach ache, nausea, vomiting and bleeding can occur when the gastrointestinal tract is involved. Affected skin may appear as a dusky reddish tender patch with a darkening centre due to tissue death. There may be an ulcer, and it can be very painful.Invasion of the blood vessels can result in thrombosis and subsequent death of surrounding tissue due to a loss of blood supply.
A number of cases of mucormycosis, aspergillosis, and candidiasis, linked to immunosuppressive treatment for COVID-19 were reported during the COVID-19 pandemic in India in 2020 and 2021. One review in early 2021 relating to the association of mucormycosis and COVID-19 reported eight cases of mucormycosis; three from the U.S., two from India, and one case each from Brazil, Italy, and the UK. The most common underlying medical condition was diabetes. Most had been in hospital with severe breathing problems due to COVID-19, had recovered, and developed mucormycosis 10–14 days following treatment for COVID-19. Five had abnormal kidney function tests, three involved the sinus, eye and brain, three the lungs, one the gastrointestinal tract, and in one the disease was widespread. In two of the seven deaths, the diagnosis of mucormycosis was made at postmortem. That three had no traditional risk factors led the authors to question the use of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs. Although, there were cases without diabetes or use of immunosuppressive drugs. There were cases reported even in children. In May 2021, the BBC reported increased cases in India. In a review of COVID-19-related eye problems, mucormycosis affecting the eyes was reported to occur up to several weeks following recovery from COVID-19. It was observed that people with COVID-19 were recovering from mucormycosis a bit easily when compared to non-COVID-19 patients.