Melrosporus

Background: The pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged as a fatal infection, especially in immunocompromised patients. Currently, this infection is managed with systemic corticosteroids. Co-infection of CO-VID-19 with opportunistic fungi is increasingly recognized. Methods: We describe a case of rhino-cerebral mucormycosis 12 days following severe COVID-19 in a diabetic patient. Results: He received 50 mg amphotericin B and surgical debridement. The patient's symptoms improved following medical and surgical intervention. Conclusions: Mucormycosis is an uncommon but serious infection that complicates the course of severe COVID-19. Subjects with diabetes mellitus and multiple risk factors may be at a higher risk for developing mucormycosis.

Here, we describe a reliable approach for targeted DNA integrations in the genome of R. microsporus, one of the main causal agents of mucormycosis. We provide a strategy for stable, targeted integration of DNA templates by homologous recombination (HR) based on the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. This strategy opens a wide range of possibilities for the genetic modification of R. microsporus and will be useful for the study of mucormycosis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Lax et al. (2021).

We report Mycetohabitans rhizoxinica bacteremia in a 65-year-old woman in California, USA, who was undergoing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma. Acute brain infarction and pneumonia developed; Rhizopus microsporus mold was isolated from tracheal suction. Whole-genome sequencing confirmed bacteria in blood as genetically identical to endofungal bacteria inside the mold.