Aspergillus

	Aspergillosis Microchapters
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Cafer Zorkun, M.D., Ph.D. [2]; Ujjwal Rastogi, MBBS

Overview

Aspergillosis is caused by the fungus Aspergillus, commonly A. fumigatus.

Causes

Aspergillosis is caused by the fungus Aspergillus:

[[Aspergillus fumigatus|A. fumigatus (most common)
A. flavus
A. parasiticus
A. oryzae
A. terreus
A. nidulans
A. niger

Taxonomy

Eukaryota; Fungi/Metazoa group; Fungi; Ascomycota; Pezizomycotina; Eurotiomycetes; Eurotiales; Trichocomaceae; mitosporic Trichomaceae

Reservoir

Aspergillus is ubiquitous in the environment.
Aspergillus can be found in soil, decomposing plant matter, household dust, building materials, plants, food, and water.

Transmission

Transmission occurs through inhalation of airborne conidia.
Hospital-acquired infections may be sporadic or may be associated with dust exposure during building renovation or construction.
Occasional outbreaks of cutaneous infection have been traced to contaminated biomedical devices.

Incubation Period

The incubation period for aspergillosis is unclear and likely varies depending on the dose of Aspergillus and the host immune response.

Associated Diseases

Aspergillus may cause any of the following clinical syndromes depending on the host immune responses:

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
Allergic Aspergillus sinusitis
Aspergilloma
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis
Invasive aspergillosis
Cutaneous aspergillosis

To learn how to distinguish between the Aspergillus clinical syndromes, click here.

Pulmonary aspergillosis - allergic bronchopulmonary type is an allergic reaction to the fungus that usually develops in people who already have lung problems (such as asthma or cystic fibrosis).
Aspergilloma is a growth (fungus ball) that develops in an area of past lung disease or lung scarring (such as tuberculosis orlung abscess).
Pulmonary aspergillosis - invasive type is a serious infection with pneumonia that can spread to other parts of the body. This infection almost always occurs in people with a weakened immune system due to cancer, AIDS, leukemia, an organ transplant, chemotherapy, or other conditions or medications that lower the number of normal white blood cells or weaken the immune system.

Gallery

This micrograph reveals a fertilized egg of the round worm Ascaris lumbricoides; Mag. 400X. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Under a relatively low magnification of 30X, this micrograph of a growing colony of Aspergillus alliaceus revealed some of the ultrastructural characteristics including the presence of sclerotia and conidial heads. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This photomicrograph reveals some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by the fungal organism Aspergillus fumigatus. Of particular importance is the filamentous conidiophore, which ends in a bulbous, spheroid-shaped vesicle. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Under a magnification of 125X, this illustration depicts the ultrastructural details found in the common mold, Aspergillus including the organism’s septate hyphae, conidiophores, which support the apparatus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts numbers of chains of Aspergillus specie fungal conidiospores. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts numbers of chains of Aspergillus specie fungal conidiospores. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts numbers of round asexual Aspergillus sp. fungal fruiting bodies situated amongst a patch of the organism’s septate hyphae. Numbers of chains of conidiospores are visible in this view. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts numbers of round asexual Aspergillus sp. fungal fruiting bodies situated amongst a patch of the organism’s septate hyphae. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Magnified 562X this photomicrograph, stained using a fluorescent antibody (FA) staining technique (NOT stained using a “Candida” conjugate) revealed the presence of Aspergillus sp. organisms, in a case of aspergillosis. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Magnified 562X this photomicrograph, stained using an “Aspergillus” conjugate fluorescent antibody (FA) staining technique, revealed the presence of Aspergillus sp. organisms, in a case of aspergillosis. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This photomicrograph revealed the presence of Aspergillus fumigatus fungal organisms in a brain tissue, methenamine silver-stained specimen harvested from a turkey poult that had contracted this infection. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This micrograph depicts the histopathologic features of aspergillosis including the presence of fungal hyphae. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This micrograph depicts the histopathologic features of aspergillosis including the presence of conidia-laden conidiophores. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This micrograph depicts the histopathologic features of aspergillosis including the presence of conidial heads.From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Note the histopathologic changes seen in aspergillosis of the lung of a caged parrot using H&E stain, which shows fungal hyphae. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Note the histopathologic changes seen in aspergillosis of the lung of a caged parrot using PAS stain, which shows fungal hyphae. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This was a case of pulmonary aspergillosis found in a caged sulfur-crested cockatoo due to Aspergillosis fumigatus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This photomicrograph depicts the appearance of a “rough” conidiophore of the fungus Aspergillus flavus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This photomicrograph depicts the appearance of a conidiophore of the fungus Aspergillus flavus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This photomicrograph depicts the appearance of a conidiophore of the fungus Aspergillus flavus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Note the aspergillosis associated histopathologic changes in this turkey poult brain tissue due to Aspergillus fumigatus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This photomicrograph reveals a conidiophore filament of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Conidial head of an Aspergillus niger fungal organism showing a double row of sterigmata. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
Conidial head of an Aspergillus niger fungal organism showing a double row of sterigmata. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]
This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts numbers of chains of Aspergillus specie fungal conidiospores. From Public Health Image Library (PHIL). ^[1]