Seasonal variations in rhino-cerebral Mucor infection.

Objectives: Rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is an uncommon, potentially lethal infection that occurs mostly in immunocompromised hosts. The seasonal occurrence of ROCM was studied in two of Israel's largest medical centers.

Methods: A total of 36 patients were seen during a 25-year period in this retrospective bi-institutional cohort study.

An outbreak of Phialemonium infective endocarditis linked to intracavernous penile injections for the treatment of impotence.

Background: In March 2002, a patient in Tel Aviv, Israel, died of endocarditis caused by Phialemonium curvatum. As part of his therapy for erectile dysfunction, the patient had been trained to self-inject a compound of vasoactive drugs provided by an impotence clinic into his penile corpus cavernosous.

Methods: We identified the used prefilled syringes as the source of his infection.

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of infections caused by fusarium species: a collaborative study from Israel.

Fusarium infections are an important problem worldwide, commonly affecting immunocompromised individuals. We conducted a retrospective study in two Israeli tertiary medical centers of factors predisposing to infection by Fusarium spp. and their influence on the epidemiology and clinical outcome of this infection.

Rhino-orbital and rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis.

Background: Rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is a devastating infection of immunocompromised hosts. We present our experience with 19 ROCM cases and attempt to define preferred diagnostic and treatment protocols.

Methods: All had tissue biopsies obtained studied by direct smear, histologic studies, and cultures.