Experimental mucormycosis in congenitally athymic (nude) mice.

Athymic nude (nu/nu) mice and their phenotypically normal (nu/+) littermates displayed a similar susceptibility to acute lethal infection with Absidia corymbifera. Although the clinical manifestations of acute infection were also similar in both groups, the nude mice tended to develop more extensive lesions and were less effective in eliminating viable A. corymbifera spores than their heterozygous littermates. The results suggested that thymus-dependent processes did not play an essential role in primary resistance to mucormycosis.