Pulmonary aspergillosis - invasive

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Pulmonary aspergillosis

Aspergillosis - chest X-ray

Pulmonary aspergillosis - invasive

Definition:

Invasivepulmonary aspergillosis is an infection of the lungs caused by a fungus.Usually, only people with weakened immune systems become sick from thistype of infection.

Alternative Names:
Aspergillosis - acute invasive
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Aspergillosis is caused by the fungus aspergillus, whichis commonly found on dead leaves, bird droppings, and compost piles.

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It can causean allergic reaction in people with asthma, or afungus ball (aspergilloma) in an area ofprevious disease such as tuberculosis or lung abscess.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis occurs when the infection spreads. This is the most serious type of aspergillosis infection, and is the topic of this article. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosiscan affect any organ, particularly the heart, lungs, brain, and kidneys.As the disease gets worse,the nervous system and skin may be affected.

Immunosuppression is one of the main risk factors for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Anotherrisk factor isa very low white blood cell count over a prolonged period. Thistype ofproblem is sometimes found in patientswho have hadchemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation.