Pulmonary mucormycosis with endobronchial involvement due to Rhizopus homothallicus: a fatal case report.

Mucormycosis is an opportunistic infection caused by fungi of the order Mucorales, primarily affecting immunocompromised individuals or those with disruption of skin or mucosal integrity. The most common clinical forms include pulmonary, rhino-orbito-cerebral, and cutaneous presentations. We report the case of a patient in his seventh decade of life with a history of diabetes mellitus who presented with a two-month history of paroxysmal cough with mucopurulent sputum, fever, and weight loss. Bronchoscopy and biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of endobronchial mucormycosis, an uncommon clinical presentation, with histopathological findings of sparsely septate, hyaline hyphae. The patient was started on amphotericin B therapy; however, his clinical course was unfavorable, developing multiorgan failure that led to death within 72 hours. Molecular sequencing of the specimen identified Rhizopus homothallicus as the causative agent.