Pulmonary fungal infection caused by Rhizopus microsporus in type II diabetic patient:A case report

Pulmonary fungal infections are invasive fungal diseases with high mortality, particularly in immunocompromised patients. This case report describes a patient with type II diabetes mellitus who developed a pulmonary fungal infection. The patient presented with a one-week history of paroxysmal cough and expectoration of yellowish-white, purulent sputum following exposure to cold temperatures. Initial empirical antiviral therapy failed to yield any clinical improvement Subsequent chest computed tomography (CT) scans revealed irregular areas of increased density in the left lower lung, while metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) identified the infection as caused by Rhizopus microspores. The patient was treated with intravenous amphotericin B and showed clinical improvement without side effects during follow-up. This case highlighted the potential of mNGS as an adjunctive diagnostic tool for rare pathogen infections, especially in immunocompromised patients where conventional microbiological methods may be inconclusive.