ERS Vision: Take the Active Option for your Health
Patients living with lung diseases often experience restricted breathing which causes limited mobility and loss of regular activity. Alongside pharmacotherapies, promoting activity, can not only increase quality of life for a patient but also provide healthcare professionals with a cost-effective method of treatment. Activity can be promoted through informal increased activity for a patient in everyday life or through prescribed sessions of pulmonary rehabilitation. Despite evidence supporting the benefits of activity, it is an underused intervention. In the latest instalment of ERS Vision, experts discuss how activity can decrease hospital admissions and represent cost savings, while patients share their experiences of how physical activity has improved their quality of life.
Push-ups for Aspergillosis Research
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Pushups for Aspergillosis: After the worldwide appeal from Stewart Armstrong the awareness campaign starts to catch on - How many can you do?? Also don't forget to SHARE smile emoticon For those that want to here is a page to donate. www.virginmoneygiving.com/StewartArmstrong
Stewart Armstrong inspiring many people to do 'Push-ups for aspergillosis' to raise awareness and funds for aspergillosis research.
What is Aspergillosis? - Fungal Infections & Symptoms
An online science educational resource - Intended to be a course for students but is suitable for the layperson.
Requires registration for a free trial
What is Aspergillosis? - Fungal Infections & Symptoms
Aspergillosis & antibody testing
Published on 10 Jul 2014
Patient information video outlining the role of antibody testing in the management of Aspergillosis
A patient describes his life with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis
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Woodrow Maitland tells of his personal experience of having aspergillosis. Like most people he had never heard of aspergillosis when he was finally diagnosed and treated at the National Aspergillosis Centre, Manchester, UK
Patients Meeting - Rome 2010
The following international meeting was recorded especially for patients with aspergillus related problems - designed to provide a resource for patients and address some of their questions. Some talks are now also available as podcasts at the iTunes store - search for "aspergillus and aspergillosis podcasts"
Some health effects of mould exposure
A summary of the potential health impacts of living in a damp home: Video provided by US companies with a financial interest in remediating homes so some marketing of specific services is featured. The Aspergillus Website does not endorse these specific services and care should be taken when employing anyone to carry out this type of work on your home.
Interview with CPA patient RW on long term antifungal treatments
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A patient interview. This patient RW- with long term chronic pulmonary aspergillosis describes his experiences over 18 years during which he has taken various antifungal treatments. He remains well and currently takes itraconazole. A synopsis is shown below. This patient underwent a lung resection in 1991 for a suspect lesion in his lung, histology revealed inflammation and an area containing fungal hyphae consistent with a fungal ball. Resection appeared to cure the problem. However in 1992 he re-presented with a large new cavity near the site of the surgery and a probable fungal ball seen on X ray. A bronchoscopy sample grew aspergillus and his blood tests were positive for aspergillus precipitins. Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis was diagnosed. Antifungal treatment on itraconazole was started and much improvement was seen. During the next few years the patient tried voriconazole (as a trial drug) - on which he experienced a red facial rash; IV amphotericin - which improved his condition markedly. Itraconazole treatment was then restarted and the patient has been largely stable on this antifungal drug over the last 13 years. On the occasions he has stopped the drug - he has relapsed and it has taken some months before he was again stable. The patient is currently in good health (11/09). We would like to thank the patient for agreeing to share his experiences.
Interview with patient with an aspergilloma and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis who developed azole resistance. Patient MD.
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Video interview with patient with an aspergilloma and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, diagnosed after coughing up blood who later developed azole resistance on voriconazole. Patient History This patient had severe kyphoscoliosis as a child with insertion of spinal rods in early adulthood. She is a life-long non-smoker. She first presented in 2001 with an irritating cough and several treatments with antibiotics failed to alleviate it. After 2 years the cough worsened and she developed a fever. She was investigated but results were inconclusive. She then coughed up large amounts of blood (haemoptysis) and had a very severe bleed which was treated with embolisation and oral tranexamic acid. She continued to cough and produce green sputum and lose weight. Aspergillus precipitin titre was high and she was initially diagnosed with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis with one cavity containing an aspergilloma. Treatment with itraconazole did not alleviate her symptoms (despite adequate blood levels) and she started voriconazole and considerable improvement was seen initially and she gained some weight. She continued voriconazole for 2 years. However her Aspergillus titre remained high and her cough continued. Further tests showed her trough plasma levels of voriconazole to be more than 0.5mg/L, however isolates revealed that her Aspergillus fumigatus was drug resistant to itraconazole, voriconazole and posaconazole. The patient has now commenced amphotericin B therapy. We thank the patient for kindly providing this interview.
Interview long-term ABPA patient who coughed up large sputum plugs
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Video Interview with long-term ABPA patient who coughed up large sputum plugs. This patient had several episodes of pneumonia and developed bronchiectasis after diagnosis for a collapsed left lung. She was treated with inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators and progressed well. She was later diagnosed with possible ABPA (aspergillus precipitins were negative), after producing a large sputum plug which was positive for aspergillus hyphae. Her main symptoms were severe coughing with production of clear sputum. In December 04 her coughing became very severe and she coughed badly for 7 months. Her treatment was modified to include itraconazole (400mg/day solution- she required a higher dose than normal as she was taking other medication which reduced it's absorption). 8 weeks later she started very severe bouts of coughing over 3 days - which produced a large number of small mucous plugs, finally a very large plug (resembling a piece of grey chewing gum) was coughed up. After this, the coughing subsided and the patient felt well and a chest X-ray at this time showed a significant improvement with clearing of shadows from the right lower lobe. Itraconazole levels have been reduced to 300mg per day and steroid intake reduced. The patient remained well in July 2007. We thank the patient for kindly providing this interview.