Is anyone familiar with Aspergillus Terreus.... finding our soldiers in US who served in Afghanistan coming home with it....

[catkey54]

I myself have ABPA..... Not sure how I got it . have had it since 1991

Now to find out my son has it. From Afghanistan and more of them have it.... Also caused some nasty wound in the field ...-any info is helpful. Catkey. Colorado

[MattKneale]

Hi Catkey,

Aspergillus is a type of mould and we all breath in the spores everyday, but usually our immune system keeps everything healthy. Occasionally, particularly in asthmatics, the immune system can overreact to the mould spores that enter your lungs and cause problems that often resemble asthma itself.

ABPA only affects the lungs: any wounds with fungi would be classified as invasive infections and are unrelated to having ABPA.

Are you and your son asthmatic? ABPA is a known complication of asthma, and we know that asthma runs in families. Since there is a proven link between the two, it's not beyond plausibility that you both developed ABPA.

Proper diagnosis and treatment of ABPA requires specialist investigations, but you can find out more about that on our website: nacpatients.org.uk/abpa

Hope this helps,

Matt

[catkey54 in reply to MattKneale]

Sorry Matt haven't been on in awhile all above is a yes…My son is asthmatic as I am also…he was in Afghanistan and Iraq…they had to sleep in a Sheep herders den he said at a point in his tour in Afghanistan …we think that was the culprit…He has 3 types and Niger being i believe the most serious…know that is a bad one. He goes to VA in Topeka Kansas,,and is on new meds for this

Thank you for your responds…I have been offline for awhile

[sumpy]

think you might find this article explains alot,

businessinsider.com/afghani...

[GAtherton Administrator Fungal Infection Trust]

Combat troops who are wounded and have deep lacerations will likely have a number of infecting organisms embedded in their wounds. A dry dusty environment may well release dust that contains a lot of fungi that can enter these wounds but most will not be able to grow as most cannot tolerate our warm body temperature and those that do grow a little will usually be quickly wiped out by our immune system.

However if our immune system isn't working at full efficiency (the article mentions blood transfusions that might cause this effect for a few days) or they are blown into a part of the body not well protected by good blood flow (eg joints or scarred tissue) a few fungi can persist and some can slowly grow. Once detected this is very treatable but detecting fungal infection can be very difficult so it can be some time before treatment begins.

From reading the article it sounds like doctors treating combat troops are well aware of this hazard and are taking active precautions.