Common fungus infection found fatal for lung disease patients: Ames study shows

New Delhi: Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) – a common fungal infection that claims 340,000 lives worldwide every year – can be life-threatening for nearly 1 in 3 people with lung diseases, the All India Institute A study by researchers at the Tut of Medical Sciences shows that AIIMS) in the national capital.

CPA, caused by exposure to airborne spores of the mold Aspergillus, causes gradual scarring of the lungs over months and years.

It is a debilitating condition that causes severe fatigue, weight loss, shortness of breath and coughing up blood. Although exposure to Aspergillus is harmless to most people, it can affect those with lung damage.

The study, based on a large global review and published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, found that about 32 percent of people with pre-existing lung diseases died five years later if they were also infected with CPA. will go

About 15 percent of people with CPA will die in the first year after other lung diseases.

AIIMS Delhi researchers Dr. Abhinav Sengupta and Dr. Animesh Ray examined mortality rates in 8,778 patients described in the literature from all continents except Antarctica.

An international study including researchers from the University of Manchester showed that CPA patients with pre-existing tuberculosis (TB) had a 25% lower overall 5-year mortality rate.

However, they also found that patients with CPA are misdiagnosed as having TB, and are then not treated with antifungal agents.

Treatment with antifungal drugs or surgery is key to improving symptoms and reducing the risk of death, the researchers said.

Additionally, people over age 60, and those with interstitial lung disease, existing cancer, and smoking-related lung disease, had the worst outcomes, the team said.