Who does Aspergillus affect?
The fungus can cause four types of disease in humans: – It may grow slowly, without invading tissue, in an abnormal site within the body, such as a pre-existing lung cavity (this is known as saprophytic disease); – It may cause allergic disease (such as alveolitis or sinusitis) in those who have developed a hypersensitivity to the fungus; – It may produce toxins (such as aflatoxins) in foodstuffs, which cause disease when ingested. – Invasive aspergillosis, which is described in this article. Invasive aspergillosis This almost always occurs in immunocompromised individuals. With the increasing number of such patients, invasive aspergillosis (IA) – along with other invasive mycoses (diseases caused by fungi) – had risen to seventh place in the list of infective causes of death by 2001 (McNeil et al, 2001). In the USA, population-based studies have found an annual IA incidence of 12.4 per million (Rees et al, 1998). The UK incidence is less well understood and probably underestimated. Re
