Acute Asper lung infection ILD

[Asper]

Ok I recently had a CT lung scan and I have ground glass and mediastinal nodes. Seeing pulmonary and had consult with rheum. No to lupus but more bloods taken during this time I did my own slides and found Asper Niger in in my sputum. Brought the slides to Pulmonologist waiting for ins to approve Vfast. I have read about anti fungals and it seems that as soon as one gets off them the infection comes back. As I still have not received my med- perhaps I should forgo it. My BP and heart rate have gone up yet I don't seem that sick-I guess it is all relative ... how would I know if the asper has invaded my heart? I can see the changes on my lung CT what should I look for with regard to my heart? Also my antigen levels for Asper were nil... of course Niger was not tested. I have over fifteen slides and I am now making culture plates. I want to know how I can fight this on my own. I got sick in November but was exposed to Asper Niger In December after a month of pneumonia (my grandson had this illness and brought it home... ) he got better on Amoxicillin- i was given Z pac and prednisone 3 x....

My lung function test was 110 for lung capacity but 44% for oxygen diffusion. I am clear... At this point what can I do to help my body fight this? I am tired of being and advocate for myself and not having a plan.

What is the point of taking the anti fungal if it will just return when I have finished the three weeks?

[Lutonian]

'Asper'

You must be a microbiologist if you prepared your own slides?The process of asceptically collecting sputum from your lungs (BAL?) and working them up to slides in a suitable asceptic environment is fraught with risk of accidental environmental pollution unless done extremely carefully from sample collection through to preparation; not something done at home.

Amoxicillin is an anti bacterial antibiotic so is very unlikely to be used to treat fungal infection ; usual antifungals for aspergillus niger are liposomal amphocerin B or voricanozole . (unless bacterial infection also identified and it could be used in combo with anti fungal).

Also I have not personally heard of person to person transmission of aspergillosis ;the risk must be extremely low

Do you live and/or work in a water damaged building? It could be that your problems are associated with your own environment rather than from your grandson . See Hindawi Review Article "A Review of the Mechanisms of Injury and Treatment Approaches for Illness Resulting from Exposure to Water Damaged Buildings,Mold and Mycotoxins" .

' dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/767482 '

Re effective treatment of a confirmed aspergillus infection you will need support from medical specialists who can decide with yourself appropriate antifungal treatment. Fungi can be extremely tenacious and adaptable infectious agents and difficult to eradicate : all the mechanisms as to how they invade ,overcoming bodies various defences and adapt to different environments within body are not all understood and there is ongoing research in these areas

I've read articles re 'self treatments' for fungal infections but no idea as to effectiveness either positive or negative or risks eg ' How I Survived.com ' . They may be more useful for yeast type infections eg candida rather than moulds.

Self treatment some people say they have used include things like:

- Iodine eg Lugol's or potassium iodide pills

- Boron supplement (borax)

- Hydrogen peroxide eg via nebulizer

-Silver(small particle via nebulizer)

-diatomaceous earth or charcoal or cholestyramine to aid toxin removal

-Glutathione supplement

-Diet particularly avoiding carbs and sugar.

-Herbs and vitamins eg vital C ,D

sunshine (UVb kills mould)

You can Google all these and other search variants to get various views and experiences.

Hope this gives you 'food for thought' and you get a solution soon

[GAtherton Administrator Fungal Infection Trust]

Sputum samples are fairly unreliable so not conclusive but they can act as guidance for a possible infection. If they have been self made are you sure they were prepared under sterile conditions? There are regular cases where Aspergillus contaminates slides even when prepared under lab conditions.

Insofar as you needing to take an antifungal drug - if your doctor thinks a course of voriconazole is needed then he/she probably has other test results that support the possibility. Follow their advice.