phycomycosis Path.
(ˌfaɪkəʊmaɪˈkəʊsɪs)
Pl. -mycoses.
[f. phycomycete + -osis.]
Infection with or a disease caused by phycomycetes, esp. the genera Mucor, Rhizopus, or Absidia; mucormycosis.
| 1959 Lie-Kian-Joe et al. in Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Path. XXXII. 62/1 We use the name phycomycosis to designate a fungous infection caused by a member of the Phycomycetes. It is proposed in order to avoid the more restricted connotations of mucormycosis, and includes infections caused by Mucor, Absidia, Rhizopus, Mortierella, Basidiobolus, and similar Phycomycetes. The name is useful, too, for mycoses in which no culture was obtained but in which sections of involved tissues reveal the presence of a fungus with the morphology usually associated with a Phycomycete. 1965 [see mucormycosis]. 1972 Radiology CIII. 332/2 Craniofacial phycomycosis appears to originate by invasion of the nasal mucosa. |