Table 4.21.

Major diseases of animal and human caused by Rhizopus

Fungi	Host	Disease
Rhizopus	Ruminants	Mycotic abortion and placentitis
	Pigs	Gastric ulcer, submandibular granuloma, abscess in the stomach, lymph node, liver
	Dogs and cats	A rare infection in dogs and cats and is associated with use of steroids, intestinal trauma, diabetes, malnutrition and feline panleukopenia infection. The fungal menace causes vomition, diarrhoea, necrotic lesions in the intestinal wall, peritonitis, intestinal obstruction
	Chicken, duck	The vital organs such as the lungs, heart, aorta, spleen, liver, air sacs, kidney and vertebrae are involved. White nodules are observed in the affected tissues
Rhizopus stolonifer (with Aspergillus niger)	Horse	Equine invasive pulmonary mycosis
	Human	In human, mucormycosis produces six major clinical forms such as rhinocerebral, pulmonary, cutaneous, gastrointestinal, disseminated and rare forms, like endocarditis, osteomyelitis, peritonitis and renal infection. The most common sites of invasive mucormycosis are the sinuses (39 %), lungs (24 %) and skin (19 %). The skin and gastrointestinal tract are also commonly infected in children. The mortality rate is 66 % in patients with malignancy, 44 % in patients with diabetes and 35 % in the patients with no other menace. In India, rhino-orbito-cerebral manifestations are most common feature followed by cutaneous disease, and most of the infections are associated with diabetes mellitus