Mucor

Often found in soils, dead plant material (hay), and horse dung, fruits and fruit juice. It is also found in leather, meat, dairy products, animal hair, and jute. It is almost always in house dust, frequently in air samples and old dirty carpets. Wood chips and sawdust are often attacked by M. plumbeus causing "wood chips disease" and "furrier's lung". Accumulated dust in ventilation ducts may contain high concentrations of viable Mucor spores. Asthmatic reactions to Mucor have been described. It is a Zygomycete fungus that may be allergenic (skin and bronchial tests). It is an opportunistic pathogenic organism and it may cause mucorosis in immune compromised individuals. The sites of infections are the lung, nasal sinus, brain, eye, and skin. Infection may have multiple sites. This organism and other Zygomycetes will grow rapidly on most fungal media. Conidia (sporangiospores) are globose to ellipsoidal, 7–8 microns in diameter, yellowish brown and slightly rough-walled, and are produced in sporangia which are developed around pyriform columella with typical projections. Identification is based o the way sporangia are formed.