Asthmatic People Could Have Mold Growing in Their Lungs

A new study carried out by a team of researchers in the Institute for Lung Health at the University of Leicester and Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, discovered that there is a risk that the cause of allergies in asthmatic people could be mold growing in their lungs.

It appears that many asthmatic people with allergic reactions towards a common mold, actually had the mold growing in their own lungs.

The team, which was based in the Institute for Lung Health at the University of Leicester and Glenfield Hospital assessed the impact of Aspergillus fumigates – a common environmental mold usually found in soil and compost heaps, on asthmatics.

“Our study showed that 6 out of 10 people with asthma who were allergic to A. fumigatus grew the mold from their sputum,” said Professor Andy Wardlaw from the University of Leicester.

“We also found that if you were allergic to A. fumigatus you had more narrowing of the airways than if you were not allergic, and this was worse in patients from whom A. fumigatus was grown.

“Our research concluded that it is possible that fixed narrowing of breathing tubes in many people with asthma could be caused by A. fumigatus growing in their lungs.

“Treating individuals from whom A. fumigatus is detected with antibiotics against the mold may prevent fixed narrowing of the airways.”

Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and repeated symptoms – wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm.

Professor Wardlaw said that “around a fifth of adults with severe asthma, which they have had for a long time, get permanent (fixed) narrowing of their bronchi.

“It is known that A. fumigatus can grow in the lungs of some people with asthma and mold allergy, which can cause severe lung damage.

“This problem is thought to only affect a very small number of people with asthma; however, about half of people with severe asthma have evidence of allergy to molds like A. fumigatus.”

This study was funded by the Midlands Asthma and Allergy Research Association (MAARA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in an attempt to find out whether the problem of A. fumigatus growing in the lungs is more frequent than previously thought, and whether this could explain the fixed narrowing of the airways that occurs in some people with asthma.

The research has been published in the December 2010 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.