Post-traumatic corneal mucormycosis caused by Absidia corymbifera.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was to report a case of mycotic keratitis caused by the organism Absidia corymbifera (class Zygomycetes, order Mucorales, family Mucoraceae).

DESIGN

Case report.

PARTICIPANT: A healthy 37-year-old farmer scratched his left cornea on a galvanized nail while working in his barn. Within 24 hours, an infiltrate in the interior cornea developed that advanced superiorly, reducing the vision to hand motion by the following day. He was treated with topical and systemic antibiotics and antifungal medications, but the infiltrate spread to the adjacent nasal limbus.

INTERVENTION: An 11-mm penetrating keratoplasty was performed with an adjacent nasal 7-mm superficial lamellar sclerectomy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pathologic examination of the keratoplasty specimen.

RESULTS

Corneal cultures grew A. corymbifera. The organisms were identified in tissue sections by light, fluorescent, electron, and immunoelectron microscopy.

CONCLUSIONS

The authors believe that this is the first reported case of keratitis caused by an Absidia species and, as such, represents an unusual form of mucormycosis in an otherwise healthy individual.