Phycomycetes, three genera of fungi with nonseptate hyphae, are found worldwide in soil, dung, and decaying vegetable matter.1 Mucoraceae may be identified when there are variably wide hyphae with sharp, irregular, right-angled branching.
Mucormycosis, especially the rhinocerebral form, often is associated with diabetes mellitus,2 usually when the patient is debilitated.3 Pulmonary mucormycosis, seen occasionally in patients with advanced diabetes,1 has not been noted near the onset of insulin-dependent diabetes. In this report we describe a 14-year-old boy who had been in generally good health until fatal pulmonary mucormycosis developed shortly after he was hospitalized for initial treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes.
Report of a Case.—A 14-year-old boy was hospitalized with fever and polyuria. Insulin zinc suspension was given. He had been unusually thirsty for two months, and during the preceding five days, he had been treated orally with penicillin for an influenza-like syndrome. There was no