HWN Suggests

Lung infections caused by soil fungi are a problem nationwide

“People with fungal lung infection often spend weeks trying to get the right diagnosis and appropriate treatment, and the whole time they’re feeling terrible,” said lead author Patrick B. Mazi, MD, a clinical fellow in infectious diseases. “They usually have multiple health-care visits with multiple opportunities for testing and diagnosis, but the doctor just doesn’t consider a fungal infection until they’ve exhausted all other possibilities.”

read full article

Featured

 Fungus Among Us: Three Fungal Diseases that Cause Pneumonia in the United States

The public needs to know: No matter where you live, if you have pneumonia that isn’t getting better with treatment, ask your healthcare provider about the possibility of a fungal infection. We all have a role to play in identifying these diseases earlier, reporting them faster, and raising awareness so that we can save lives and protect the populations we serve.

 Physicians urged to consider fungal infections as possible cause for lung inflammation

Climate change widens spread of Valley fever, other fungal diseases beyond typical hot spots. In a commentary published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Thompson and his co-author from the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Chiller raised the alarm. They noted the expanding presence and emerging risks from three endemic fungal diseases: histoplasmosis, blastomycosis and coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever).

Articles of Interest

Community-Acquired Pneumonias

Three common types of fungal community acquired pneumonias found in different parts of the United States are coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever), histoplasmosis, and blastomycosis.

Diagnostic and therapeutic approach to fungal pneumonia in the critically ill patient

Aspergillus spp. is the fungus most frequently producing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), constituting 8% of them. This risk is significantly increased in onco-hematological patients.

Fungal Pneumonia - Types, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

Fungal pneumonia is primarily caused when fungal spores are inhaled. In addition, these can occur as opportunistic infections, which can take place in both indoor and outdoor settings, including hospital-acquired infections. The most common fungal organisms involved in causing opportunistic fungal infections include Pneumocystis Jirovecii and Aspergillus.

Resources

4 key things to know about lung infections caused by fungi

Histoplasma, Blastomyces and Coccidioides fungi live in the soil as molds. Sometimes people breathe in spores the fungi give off as part of their natural life cycle. In the lungs, the fungi can transform into a quick-growing yeast form and cause a flulike illness, pneumonia or chronic disease. In a small number of cases, the fungi can spread to other parts of the body and cause more serious disease.

Radiopaedia

Pulmonary fungal disease is caused by various organisms of varying virulence and varying sensitivity to antifungal drugs. Immunocompromise, particularly neutropaenia is a major risk factor for invasive and disseminated disease.

The Lung Docs

The fungi that cause fungal pneumonia can be endemic (a fungus that’s native and restricted to a specific place) or opportunistic (a fungus that wouldn’t normally cause infections in otherwise healthy people, but are able to cause an infection due to many factors including organ transplant, cancer, immunodeficiency, etc.)