The importance of treating Aspergillus before it has taken hold, and the challenges currently facing clinical diagnostics laboratories, cannot be over-emphasised. Here, Lewis White and Rosemary Barnes explain their approach to molecular testing and diagnosis.
Aspergillus is an airborne fungus ubiquitously found throughout the environment. Its spores, which are usually harmless, are found commonly in air-conditioning units, the soil, and particularly in damp housing.
We come into contact with the fungus on a regular basis but only immunocompromised individuals (eg HIV/AIDS patients, those on immunosuppressant drugs following a transplant, or patients on chemotherapy) and patients with pre-existing lung conditions are susceptible to disease. In such cases, various disease forms can present; aspergillosis is the broad term used to encompass a group of diseases including invasive aspergillosis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) and aspergilloma.
The focus of the following article is acute invasive aspergillosis as this requires urgent treatment and causes a high degree of morbidity and mortality in susceptible patients.
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