Pulmonary aspergillosis; invasive type

Alternative names:

acute invasive aspergillosis; aspergillosis - acute invasive

Definition:

An acute infection caused by a fungus that produces illness almost exclusively in immunosuppressed or immunodeficient people.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Aspergillosis is caused by a fungus (aspergillus) that is commonly in the environment growing on dead leaves, stored grain, bird droppings, compost piles, or other decaying vegetation.

It causes illness in 3 ways: as an allergic reaction in people with asthma; as a colonization in an old healed lung cavity from previous disease such as tuberculosis or lung abscess where it produces a fungus ball called aspergilloma; and as an invasive infection with pneumonia that is spread to other parts of the body by the blood stream (invasive aspergillosis). The invasive infection can affect the eye (causing blindness) or any other organ of the body, but especially the heart, lungs, brain, and kidneys. Late in the course of the disease, the nervous system, skin, and other organs may become affected.

Risk factors in addition to immunosuppression include a very low white blood cell count over a prolonged period. The incidence is 5 out of 100,000 people. However, this condition ccan be common in children with cystic fibrosis.

Updated Date: 02/09/00

Updated By:J. Gordon Lambert, MD, Associate Medical Director, Utah Health Informatics and adam.com editorial