A Rare Case of Neonatal Colonic Mucormycosis

Mucormycosis of the neonatal gut is a rare disease, with uniformly fatal prognosis. It has occasionally been reported involving the stomach and ileum in immunocompromised hosts. However, mucormycosis of the colon is very rare. We report case of a preterm, low birth weight (LBW) neonate with clinical features of Necrotising enterocolitis found to have characteristic black-velvety colonic gangrene on exploratory laparotomy. The baby initially improved but succumbed to sepsis eventually. Tissue histology diagnosed mucormycosis of the colon. The diagnosis of colonic mucormycosis was unsuspected. This report is presented to create awareness about this rare entity so that it is suspected and diagnosed early.