“Mucormycosis is an infection caused by a group of filamentous molds within the orders Mucorales and Entomophthorales. Mucorales occupy environmental niches including soil, decaying vegetable matter, bread, and dust. Infections due to Mucorales may result from inhalation of spores into the respiratory tract, ingestion of contaminated foods, or
inoculation of disrupted skin or wounds. In developed countries, mucormycosis occurs primarily in severely immunocompromised hosts. In contrast, in developing countries, a substantial number of cases of mucormycosis occur in patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (DM) or persons who have sustained trauma. Mucormycosis exhibits a marked propensity to invade blood vessels, leading to thrombosis, necrosis, and infarction of tissue, and mortality is high.”

“Surgical debridement or resection has critically important adjunctive roles in some patients with mucormycosis. In a review of 929 cases of mucormycosis, survival rates according to
therapeutic approach were: AmB alone (61%); surgery alone (57%); and AmB plus surgery (70%). Chakrabarti et al reported 178 cases of mucormycosis from a tertiary care center in India from 2000 to 2004; 74% of patients had poorly controlled DM. Survival was significantly better with a combination of surgical debridement and AmB (79.6%) compared with AmB alone (51.7% survival, p < 0.005). In a study of 230 cases of mucormycosis from 13 European countries from 2005 to 2007, factors associated with improved survival included: trauma as the underlying factor (p ¼ 0.02); treatment with LFAB (p ¼ 0.006); and surgery (p < 0.001). In a cohort of 174 renal transplant recipients with mucormycosis, overall survival was higher with surgical debridement plus AmB and POSA (70.2%) compared with antifungal therapy alone (32.4%), surgery alone (36.4%), or no therapy (0%).”

Reid, Gail et al. “Mucormycosis.” Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine vol. 41,1 (2020): 99-114. Full Text for Emory Users