Revealed: The hidden fungus on YOUR
pillows that can trigger an incurable lung infection
LAID low with a fever, chills, dizziness and muffled
hearing, 36-year-old Stewart Armstrong assumed he was suffering from a bad bout
of flu.
Two weeks later, with no sign of improvement — and under
pressure from his partner, Janine — the businessman went to see his GP. The
doctor could find nothing obviously wrong and prescribed pills to combat the
dizziness.
Blood test results also offered no answers. But the day
after seeing his GP, Stewart started coughing up clots of blood. In fact, Stewart had aspergillosis, a fungal infection in
his lung, although it would take many months before he would finally get the
treatment he needed.
Aspergillosis is the umbrella name for conditions caused by
the common mould aspergillus fumigatus.
The mould gives off microscopic particles — spores — that
are extremely light and float easily in the air. This is how the mould proliferates
(when the spores germinate, they develop into full-grown green and white
fungus) and, if inhaled, can cause infection.
Aspergillus spores are found all around us, indoors and
outside. The mould is common in rotting leaves and compost, as well as in air-conditioning
units and heating systems, and in insulation material in walls and lofts. Like other moulds, it thrives in warm, damp environments.
For this reason it can be found in bathrooms and kitchens (although it’s not
what causes the black spots of mould often visible in these rooms). A small 2005 study by the University of Manchester,
published in the journal Allergy, suggested that most normal household pillows
will have aspergillus growing in them — possibly because it feeds off dust mite
faeces.
The mould most commonly causes allergic reactions,
triggering symptoms such as wheezing and coughing. This is a particular problem
in people with asthma, exacerbating symptoms in one in 40 people. But it can
also cause a long-term, incurable infection in the lungs known as chronic
pulmonary aspergillosis, which not only causes symptoms such as a severe cough
and shortness of breath, but also fatigue and weight-loss.
If left untreated, it can cause serious and potentially
fatal damage to the lungs — as Stewart would discover.
Stewart
believes he may have been exposed to an especially heavy concentration of
aspergillus when he pulled down a ceiling during home refurbishments several
years ago — though specialists say it is impossible to say for sure. Most people’s immune systems will be able to
destroy the spores they inhale, but those with existing lung problems — such as
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma — or who have had
previous lung surgery or a collapsed lung, are more vulnerable.
Several years before, Stewart had been diagnosed with
sarcoidosis — an auto-immune disease that causes patches of raw and inflamed
tissue, usually on the lungs and skin — and this put him at risk.
The problem is, aspergillosis infection is not necessarily
on the radar of many health professionals so may not be spotted. Officially,
chronic pulmonary aspergillosis affects up to just 700 people a year, though
some experts believe the actual number affected is ten times higher.
After Stewart started coughing up blood, he called his
sister, Claire, a nurse, and on her advice took himself off to A&E near his
home in Ramsgate, Kent.
The hospital referred him to the specialist he’d seen for
his sarcoidosis, who in turn referred him for a CT scan at the Royal Brompton
Hospital in London.
While he waited for the results —which would take several
weeks — Stewart became steadily more poorly, with ongoing flu-like symptoms,
weight loss and a severe cough. He was housebound and unable to work.
The scan results revealed a fungal ball about the size of a
10p in his left lung — which Stewart now knows was an aspergilloma, a ball of
aspergillus fungus, though he says no one mentioned aspergillosis at this
stage, only that it could be some kind of fungal infection.
He was prescribed anti-fungal itraconazole tablets
(sometimes used to treat thrush) and returned home. But he then suffered an
allergic reaction to the drug, had a seizure and was taken to hospital in an
ambulance. He was advised to come off the itraconazole, which he
did.
Anxious for an alternative — and, he says, not offered one
by his new specialist in London — he did his own research online and came
across the National Aspergillosis Centre (NAC), the only one of its kind in the
world, attached to the University Hospital of South Manchester.
Two weeks later, Stewart saw a consultant at the centre and
was diagnosed with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. As well as the fungal ball
in one lung, there was aspergillus fungus living in cavities (holes) in his
lungs, which his doctors believe were, in all likelihood, previous injuries
caused by his sarcoidosis.
An aspergillosis infection in the lungs can only be managed,
not cured, usually with long-term antifungal medication, and a growing fungal
ball can cause inflammation and tissue damage, which requires surgery either to
remove the ball itself or to remove lung tissue.
Stewart’s infection was eating into his lungs and
stimulating new blood vessels to form, which was causing the lungs to bleed.
But there was more bad news.
The consultant said that if treatment with
alternative anti-fungal medication didn’t work, Stewart ‘could have 12 to 18
months to live’.
‘I had a seven-hour train ride home to digest the news,’
says Stewart. ‘I just couldn’t believe it. I was 35 and they were telling me
I’m going to be killed by an incurable fungus, a condition you never hear about
anywhere. I just felt extremely isolated.’
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