Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Review and a Description of Three New Cases

Pulmonary aspergillosis: A review and a description of three new cases JAMES N. MACARTNEY From the Walsall Chest Clinic Aspergillosis, a comparatively rare disease in man though a common one in birds, is caused by the aspergillus, a genus of minute fungi which, in common with other fungi, lacks chlorophyll. It is either parasitic or saprophytic and has a particular affinity for decaying vegetable matter. Included among its species are Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, A. clavatus, A. nidulans, A. flavus, and A. versicolor, of which A. fumigatus is regarded as the most important, and only occasionally have other species been mentioned in connexion with human pulmonary infection (Montes, 1963). Bennett (1844) was the first to describe a case of fungal invasion of the lungs. The patient suffered from phthisis, but doubt exists as to whether the fungus was an aspergillus. The first case of pulmonary aspergillosis was reported by Sluyter (1847) in a woman dying from a chest illness who had a fungal mass in a lung cavity. The fungus, originally reported as a mucor, was later recognized as an aspergillus.