aspergillosis
American Heritage Dictionary:
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as·per·gil·lo·sis
(ăs'pər-jə-lō'sĭs) 
n.
An infection or disease caused by fungi of the genus Aspergillus.
n.
An infection or disease caused by fungi of the genus Aspergillus.
[ASPERGILL(US) + -OSIS.]
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary:
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as·per·gil·lo·sis
(ăs'pər-jə-lō'sĭs)
n.
n.
An infection or a disease caused by fungi of the genus Aspergillus.
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:
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aspergillosis
A disease caused by species of Aspergillus, marked by inflammatory granulomatous lesions in the skin, ear, orbit, nasal sinuses, lungs, and sometimes bones and meninges. Abortion due to fungal placentitis is common in cows and occurs also in mares and sows. Subacute pulmonary involvement may be accompanied by lesions at all levels in the respiratory tract. Congenital infection of the fetus, especially manifested by dermatitis, is a rare accompaniment. A gastroenteritis with ulceration in the esophagus and forestomachs occurs in calves. Rarely osteomyelitis, intestinal and central nervous system involvement have been recorded in dogs, the most frequent site of infection being the nasal cavity. See also brooder pneumonia.
- avian a. — principal manifestation is as pneumonia but systemic invasion, dermatitis, osteomyelitis, ophthalmitis, encephalitis also occur. Species involved are A. fumigatus, A. flavus.
- disseminated a. — in dogs, a disseminated disease characterized by signs of generalized infection, lymphadenopathy, diskospondylitis, and lameness, paresis or paraplegia. A. terreus is the most common etiologic agent and German shepherd dogs are predisposed. Cats with disseminated aspergillosis usually have concurrent immunosuppressive disease.
- nasal a. — a localized form of aspergillosis, involving the nose, ears and paranasal sinuses. In dogs, there is usually a unilateral or bilateral serosanguinous nasal discharge and a characteristic depigmentation and ulceration of skin adjacent to the external nares.
Mosby's Dental Dictionary:
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aspergillosis
n
An infection caused by a fungus of the genus Aspergillus.Most commonly affects the ear but is capable of causing inflammatory, granulomatous lesions on or in any organ.
Aspergillosis. (Neville/Damm/Allen/Bouquot, 2002)
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Aspergillosis
| Aspergillosis | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
_invasive_type.jpg) Histopathologic image of pulmonary invasive aspergillosis in a patient with interstitial pneumonia. Autopsy material. Grocott's methenamine silver stain. |
|
| ICD-10 | B44 |
| ICD-9 | 117.3 |
| MedlinePlus | 001326 |
| eMedicine | med/174 |
| MeSH | D001228 |
Aspergillosis is the name given to a wide variety of diseases caused by infection by fungi of the genus Aspergillus. The most common forms are allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, pulmonary aspergilloma and invasive aspergillosis. Most humans inhale Aspergillus spores every day. Aspergillosis develops mainly in individuals who are immunocompromised, either from disease or from immunosuppressive drugs, and is a leading cause of death in acute leukemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The most common cause is Aspergillus fumigatus.
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Contents
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Symptoms
A fungus ball in the lungs may cause no symptoms and may be discovered only with a chest X-ray, or it may cause repeated coughing up of blood and occasionally severe, even fatal, bleeding. A rapidly invasive Aspergillus infection in the lungs often causes cough, fever, chest pain, and difficulty breathing.
Aspergillosis affecting the deeper tissues makes a person very ill. Symptoms include fever, chills, shock, delirium, and blood clots. The person may develop kidney failure, liver failure (causing jaundice), and breathing difficulties. Death can occur quickly.
Aspergillosis of the ear canal causes itching and occasionally pain. Fluid draining overnight from the ear may leave a stain on the pillow. Aspergillosis of the sinuses causes a feeling of congestion and sometimes pain or discharge.
In addition to the symptoms, an X-ray or computerised tomography (CT) scan of the infected area provides clues for making the diagnosis. Whenever possible, a doctor sends a sample of infected material to a laboratory to confirm identification of the fungus.
Diagnosis
On chest X-ray and CT, pulmonary aspergillosis classically manifests as a halo sign, and, later, an air crescent sign.[1] In hematologic patients with invasive aspergillosis, the galactomannan test can make the diagnosis in a noninvasive way.
On microscopy, Aspergillus species are reliably demonstrated by silver stains, e.g., Gridley stain or Gomori methenamine-silver.[2] These give the fungal walls a gray-black colour. The hyphae of Aspergillus species range in diameter from 2.5 to 4.5 µm. They have septate hyphae,[3] but these are not always apparent, and in such cases they may be mistaken for Zygomycota.[2] Aspergillus hyphae tend to have dichotomous branching that is progressive and primarily at acute angles of about 45°.[2]
Treatment
The current treatments include voriconazole and liposomal amphotericin B. Newer findings suggest use of mild oral steroids for a longer period of time, preferably for 6-9 months in aspergillosis in pulmonary segment.
Other drugs used, such as amphotericin B, caspofungin (in combination therapy only), flucytosine (in combination therapy only) or itraconazole,[4][5] are used to treat this fungal infection. However, a growing proportion of infections are resistant to the triconazoles.[6]
Infections in animals
Albeit relatively rare in humans, aspergillosis is a common and dangerous infection in birds, particularly in pet parrots. Mallards and other ducks are particularly susceptible, as they will often resort to poor food sources during bad weather. Captive raptors, such as falcons and hawks, are susceptible to this disease if they are kept in poor conditions and especially if they are fed pigeons, which are often carriers of "asper".
Aspergillosis has been the culprit in several recent rapid die-offs among waterfowl. From 8 December until 14 December 2006, over 2,000 Mallards died in the Burley, Idaho area, an agricultural community approximately 150 miles southeast of Boise. Moldy waste grain from the farmland and feedlots in the area is the suspected source. A similar aspergillosis outbreak caused by moldy grain killed 500 Mallards in Iowa in 2005.
While there is no connection between aspergillosis and the H5N1 strain of avian influenza (commonly called "bird flu"), rapid die-offs caused by aspergillosis can spark fears of bird flu outbreaks. Laboratory analysis is the only way to distinguish bird flu from aspergillosis.
See also
References
- ^ Curtis A, Smith G, Ravin C (1 October 1979). "Air crescent sign of invasive aspergillosis.". Radiology 133 (1): 17–21. doi:10.1148/133.1.17. PMID 472287. http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/abstract/133/1/17?ijkey=657da61e6546d66bd27550542bc4d25be2efe638&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha.
- ^ a b c Kradin RL, Mark EJ (April 2008). "The pathology of pulmonary disorders due to Aspergillus spp". Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 132 (4): 606–14. doi:10.1043/1543-2165(2008)132[606:TPOPDD]2.0.CO;2. PMID 18384212.
- ^ "Mycology Online -- Aspergillosis". http://www.mycology.adelaide.edu.au/Mycoses/Opportunistic/Aspergillosis/. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
- ^ Herbrecht R, Denning D, Patterson T, Bennett J, Greene R, Oestmann J, Kern W, Marr K, Ribaud P, Lortholary O, Sylvester R, Rubin R, Wingard J, Stark P, Durand C, Caillot D, Thiel E, Chandrasekar P, Hodges M, Schlamm H, Troke P, de Pauw B; Invasive Fungal Infections Group of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Global Aspergillus Study Group. (Aug 8 2002). "Voriconazole versus amphotericin B for primary therapy of invasive aspergillosis". N Engl J Med 347 (6): 408–15. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa020191. PMID 12167683.
- ^ Cornely O.A., Maertens J., Bresnik M.,Ebrahimi R., Ullman A., Bouza E., Heussel C.P., Lothorlary O., Rieger C., Boehme A., Aoun M., Horst H., Thiebaut A., Ruhnke M., Reichert D., Vianelli N., Krause S., Olavarria E., Herbrecht R., for the AmBiLoad Trial Study Group (2007). "Liposomal Amphotericin B as initial therapy for invasive mold infection: a randomized trial comparing a high-loading dose regimen with a standard dosing (AmBiLoad trial)". CID 44 (10): 1289–1297. doi:10.1086/514341.
- ^ Denning DW, Park S, Lass-Florl C, Fraczek MG, Kirwan M, Gore R, Smith J, Bueid A, Bowyer P, Perlin DS (2011). "High-frequency Triazole Resistance Found In Nonculturable Aspergillus fumigatus from Lungs of Patients with Chronic Fungal Disease". Clin Infect Dis 52 (9): 1123–9. doi:10.1093/cid/cir179. PMC 3106268. PMID 21467016. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=3106268.
Additional images
_invasive_type.jpg)
External links
- USGS National Wildlife Health Center
- Aspergillus - Aspergillus website
- Aspergillosis at DoctorFungus.org
- News article in The Guardian
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Saunders Veterinary Dictionary
Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.
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Mosby's Dental Dictionary
Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
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