Aspergillosis: a disease with many faces

Abstract

Aspergillus causes a variety of pulmonary diseases. For the most part, they can be divided into three groups: mycetoma, invasive aspergillosis, and allergic forms of aspergillosis. The mycetoma form of aspergillosis has no effective treatment other than surgery, which is reserved for the severely symptomatic patient, usually with massive hemoptysis. Invasive aspergillosis is a dangerous pulmonary infection seen in patients who are generally severely immunocompromised. It is treated with amphotericin B and success in treatment of this form of aspergillosis is limited. Two of the allergic forms of Aspergillus infection, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and bronchocentric granulomatosis, are treated with steroids. The third allergic type of reaction, hypersensitivity lung, is best treated by removal of the patient from exposure to the antigen. Although these are the characteristic forms of aspergillosis, there is occasional overlap of the different types of aspergillosis.