Detailed Report on Aspergillosis: Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Aspergillosis, a fungal infection caused by the Aspergillus virus. The report begins with a definition, followed by the taxonomic classification of the fungus. It then details the signs and symptoms, common causes, and diagnostic methods, including chest X-rays, CT scans, and various lab tests like blood and fluid tests. The report also outlines the treatment options, including antifungal medications and surgery in severe cases, along with specific lab tests used for diagnosis. Furthermore, it covers the epidemiology of Aspergillosis, including statistics on affected populations and hospitalization rates. The report concludes with a list of cited references. The assignment fulfills the requirements of a report, including definition, taxonomic classification, signs and symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, and APA-formatted references, as requested in the original assignment brief.

Aspergillosis
NAME OF THE
STUDENT

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DEFINITION
Aspergillosis is a infection disease caused by
the clump formation that is the Aspergilloma of
the Aspergillus virus in the lung cavity or any
other cavity of the body (Cdc.gov, 2019).
The virus usually affects the cavities in the
body formed due to some disease occurred
before such as Tuberculosis, cystic
fibrosis.

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TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdome- Fungi
Division- Ascomycota
Class- Eurotiomycetes
Order- Eurotiales
Family- Trichocomaceae
Genus- Aspergillus
Species- fumigatus (Van der Linden et al.,
2015)

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
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Symptoms of Aspergillosis are as
follows–
1. Shortness of breath.
2. Fever.
3. Chest and joint pain.
4. Headache (Jiménez-Ortigosa et al.,
2017).
5. Cough which contain blood.
6. Skin lesions.
7. Vision difficulty.
8. Blood in urine.

CAUSE
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The most common causes of Aspergillosis are
as follows:
1. Inhaling the spores of the fungus from the
air and weak immune system of the
person can cause the disease.
2. Spores can enter through the wounds.
3. Surgical cuts can also be the source of the
spore entering in the body.
4. The moulds of Aspergillus can cause
disease in the body after the cavity
formation by several diseases such as the
Tuberculosis, cystic fibrosis, Lung
abscess, Sarcoidosis and others
(Denning, 2019).

DIAGNOSIS AND TESTING
TESTING
The following tests can help in the
diagnosis and identification of the disease
and the causal organism:
1. Chest X-ray can help in the
highlighting of the fungal moulds in
the Lungs.
2. Computerised tomography (CT) scan
of the Lungs can identify the disease
and the causal organism of the disease
(Denning et al., 2016).
DIAGNOSIS
If the doctors thinks it fit to check the X-
ray and also the CT scan is not capable of
identifying the disease properly then he
or she can also prescribe fluid and
exudates test, blood test and tissue biopsy
for the proper identification of the
disease (Eigl et al., 2016).

TREATMENT AND LAB TEST
Following ways can be used for the treatment
of the disease Aspergillosis:
1. In case of the allergic Aspergillosis that is the
allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
(ABPA) recommended treatment is using
antifungal medication including Itraconazole.
Corticosteroids can also be used.
2. Immunosuppressive medication should be
stopped if diagnosed with this disease.
3. In severe condition the requirement of the
surgery would also be considered for the
treatment (Cruciani et al., 2015).
Lab testing for the collected fluid sample
would be as follows:
1. Blood test- If the blood sample found with
the sample of the fungus then the treatment
would be directed for the disease control.
2. Tissue biopsy- The affected tissue would
be tested under microscope or in the fungal
culture for the confirmation of the
presence of the fungus.
3. Fluid test- The fluid and exudates
collected from the diseased person would
be tested for the presence of the spores of
the fungus (Cdc.gov, 2019).

EPIDEMIOLOGY
1. 15% of cystic fibrosis patients reported to
have affected with Allergic
bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA).
2. 2.5% of adults having Asthma also
reported to have ABPA and 400,000 have
chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA).
3. 70,000 people also reported to have CPA
due to Sarcoidosis.
4. 15,000 Aspergillosis related hospitalisation
reported in USA at the year 2014.
5. Reports highlighted that between 2000 to
2013 3% hike in Aspergillosis cases
among USA population (Cdc.gov, 2019).

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REFERENCES
Cdc.gov. (2019). About Aspergillosis | Aspergillosis | Types of Fungal Diseases | Fungal Diseases | CDC. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/aspergillosis/definition.html
Cdc.gov. (2019). Aspergillosis Statistics | Aspergillosis | Types of Fungal Diseases | Fungal Diseases | CDC. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/aspergillosis/statistics.html
Cdc.gov. (2019). Diagnosis & Testing | Aspergillosis | Types of Fungal Diseases | Fungal Diseases | CDC. Retrieved 6 September 2019, from
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/aspergillosis/diagnosis.html
Cruciani, M., Mengoli, C., Loeffler, J., Donnelly, P., Barnes, R., Jones, B. L., ... & Maertens, J. (2015). Polymerase chain reaction blood tests for
the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised people. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (10).
Denning, D. W. (2019). Aspergillosis: causes, types and treatment. Heart failure, 10, 00.
Denning, D. W., Cadranel, J., Beigelman-Aubry, C., Ader, F., Chakrabarti, A., Blot, S., ... & Lange, C. (2016). Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis:
rationale and clinical guidelines for diagnosis and management. European Respiratory Journal, 47(1), 45-68.
Eigl, S., Hoenigl, M., Spiess, B., Heldt, S., Prattes, J., Neumeister, P., ... & Reinwald, M. (2016). Galactomannan testing and Aspergillus PCR in
same-day bronchoalveolar lavage and blood samples for diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis. Medical mycology, 55(5), 528-534.
Jiménez-Ortigosa, C., Moore, C., Denning, D. W., & Perlin, D. S. (2017). Emergence of echinocandin resistance due to a point mutation in the
fks1 gene of Aspergillus fumigatus in a patient with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 61(12),
e01277-17.
Van der Linden, J. W. M., Arendrup, M. C., Warris, A., Lagrou, K., Pelloux, H., Hauser, P. M., ... & Dannaoui, E. (2015). Prospective multicenter
international surveillance of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus. Emerging infectious diseases, 21(6), 1041.

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