The world’s first guidelines for chronic fungal lung infections for doctors and laboratories have been published today, by the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID).
Published in the European Respiratory Journal, these new guidelines describe the important features of this disease and provide comprehensive treatment recommendations.
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a subtle and insidious problem in patients with already damaged lungs. It kills about 80% of sufferers over five years, unless diagnosed and treated with long-term antifungals. Across Europe, an estimated 240,000 people have CPA, and worldwide around 3 million. The late stages of CPA (aspergilloma) are familiar to respiratory specialists, but the early features are often missed.
