Aspergillus is a group of common moulds found everywhere world-wide, especially in the autumn and winter in the Northern hemisphere. Aspergillus is also common in the home, including bedding. Moulds are also called filamentous fungi.Aspergillosis is an infection caused by Aspergillus, a common mold (and a type of fungus) that lives indoors and outdoors. Most people breathe in Aspergillus spores every day without getting sick. However, individuals with weakened immune systems or lung diseases are at a higher risk of developing health problems due to Aspergillus. The types of health problems caused by Aspergillus include allergic reactions, lung infections, and infections in other organs.
The types of diseases caused by Aspergillus are varied, ranging from an allergy-type illness to life-threatening generalised infections. Diseases caused by Aspergillus are called aspergillosis. The severity of aspergillosis is determined by various factors but one of the most important is the state of the immune system of the person.
If the infection is widespread or the person appears seriously ill, treatment is started immediately. Voriconazole is currently first-line treatment for invasive aspergillosis and is usually given intravenously. There are other antifungal drugs that can be used to treat invasive aspergillosis in patients who cannot take voriconazole or who have not responded to voriconazole. These include itraconazole, lipid amphotericin formulations, caspofungin, micafungin, and posaconazole. Whenever possible, immunosuppressive medications should be discontinued or decreased.
Because aspergillosis is not a reportable infection in the United States, the exact number of cases is difficult to determine. Milder, allergic forms of aspergillosis are more common than the invasive form of the infection. According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) likely affects between 1 and 15% of cystic fibrosis patients. One study calculated that 2.5% of adults who have asthma also have ABPA, which is approximately 4.8 million people worldwide. Of these 4.8 million people who have ABPA, an estimated 400,000 also have chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA). Another 1.2 million people are estimated to have CPA as a sequel to tuberculosis, and over 70,000 people are estimated to have CPA as a complication of sarcoidosis.
