Aspergillus species in indoor environments and their possible occupational and public health hazards

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Abstract

The genus Aspergillus, which consists of a few hundred opportunistic mold species found in various climatic conditions, causes diseases including localized infections, fatal diseases, allergic responses, and inhaled conidia in humans. Herein, we present an overview of the most common diseases and allergic infections caused by Aspergillus species and their associated health hazards in various indoor environments worldwide.

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Most cited references 68

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Fungal secondary metabolism - from biochemistry to genomics.

Nancy Keller, Geoffrey Turner, Joan W. Bennett (2005)

Much of natural product chemistry concerns a group of compounds known as secondary metabolites. These low-molecular-weight metabolites often have potent physiological activities. Digitalis, morphine and quinine are plant secondary metabolites, whereas penicillin, cephalosporin, ergotrate and the statins are equally well known fungal secondary metabolites. Although chemically diverse, all secondary metabolites are produced by a few common biosynthetic pathways, often in conjunction with morphological development. Recent advances in molecular biology, bioinformatics and comparative genomics have revealed that the genes encoding specific fungal secondary metabolites are clustered and often located near telomeres. In this review, we address some important questions, including which evolutionary pressures led to gene clustering, why closely related species produce different profiles of secondary metabolites, and whether fungal genomics will accelerate the discovery of new pharmacologically active natural products.

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Aspergillus fumigatus and aspergillosis.

J P Latgé (1999)

Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most ubiquitous of the airborne saprophytic fungi. Humans and animals constantly inhale numerous conidia of this fungus. The conidia are normally eliminated in the immunocompetent host by innate immune mechanisms, and aspergilloma and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, uncommon clinical syndromes, are the only infections observed in such hosts. Thus, A. fumigatus was considered for years to be a weak pathogen. With increases in the number of immunosuppressed patients, however, there has been a dramatic increase in severe and usually fatal invasive aspergillosis, now the most common mold infection worldwide. In this review, the focus is on the biology of A. fumigatus and the diseases it causes. Included are discussions of (i) genomic and molecular characterization of the organism, (ii) clinical and laboratory methods available for the diagnosis of aspergillosis in immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, (iii) identification of host and fungal factors that play a role in the establishment of the fungus in vivo, and (iv) problems associated with antifungal therapy.

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Aspergillus flavus: human pathogen, allergen and mycotoxin producer.

M T Hedayati, A Pasqualotto, P Warn … (2007)

Aspergillus infections have grown in importance in the last years. However, most of the studies have focused on Aspergillus fumigatus, the most prevalent species in the genus. In certain locales and hospitals, Aspergillus flavus is more common in air than A. fumigatus, for unclear reasons. After A. fumigatus, A. flavus is the second leading cause of invasive aspergillosis and it is the most common cause of superficial infection. Experimental invasive infections in mice show A. flavus to be 100-fold more virulent than A. fumigatus in terms of inoculum required. Particularly common clinical syndromes associated with A. flavus include chronic granulomatous sinusitis, keratitis, cutaneous aspergillosis, wound infections and osteomyelitis following trauma and inoculation. Outbreaks associated with A. flavus appear to be associated with single or closely related strains, in contrast to those associated with A. fumigatus. In addition, A. flavus produces aflatoxins, the most toxic and potent hepatocarcinogenic natural compounds ever characterized. Accurate species identification within Aspergillus flavus complex remains difficult due to overlapping morphological and biochemical characteristics, and much taxonomic and population genetics work is necessary to better understand the species and related species. The flavus complex currently includes 23 species or varieties, including two sexual species, Petromyces alliaceus and P. albertensis. The genome of the highly related Aspergillus oryzae is completed and available; that of A. flavus in the final stages of annotation. Our understanding of A. flavus lags far behind that of A. fumigatus. Studies of the genomics, taxonomy, population genetics, pathogenicity, allergenicity and antifungal susceptibility of A. flavus are all required.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Curr Med Mycol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Curr Med Mycol

Journal ID (publisher-id): CMM

Title: Current Medical Mycology

Publisher: Iranian Society of Medical Mycology (Sari, Iran )

ISSN (Print): 2423-3439

ISSN (Electronic): 2423-3420

Publication date (Print): March 2016

Volume: 2

Issue: 1

Pages: 36-42

Affiliations

[1 ] Invasive Fungi Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

[2 ] ²Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

[3 ] Ramsar International Branch, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

[4 ] Division of Mycology, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Çukurova, Adana, Turkey

[5 ] Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus MC, the Netherlands

[6 ] Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

[7 ]Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious, Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, United States of America

Author notes

[* ]Corresponding author: Mohammad T. Hedayati, Invasive Fungi Research Center (IFRC), Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology/School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Khazarabad Road, P.O. Box 48175-1665, Sari, Iran. Email: hedayatimt@gmail.com

Article

DOI: 10.18869/acadpub.cmm.2.1.36

PMC ID: 5490296

PubMed ID: 28681011

SO-VID: 7d9774e7-c697-419f-9baa-52b305ce334d

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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.

Aspergillus species in indoor environments and their possible occupational and public health hazards

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Most cited references 68

Fungal secondary metabolism - from biochemistry to genomics.

Aspergillus fumigatus and aspergillosis.

Aspergillus flavus: human pathogen, allergen and mycotoxin producer.

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