Editorial Policy

Aspergillosis.org provides information about aspergillosis and related conditions for patients, carers, healthcare professionals and others seeking reliable information about fungal disease.

Our aim is to provide information that is clear, useful, evidence-based and understandable, while recognising that medical knowledge changes and that information on a website cannot replace individual clinical care.

Last reviewed: 9 September 2026

Our purpose

People living with aspergillosis often need information to help them understand their condition, treatments, test results and symptoms, and to prepare for conversations with their healthcare team.

We aim to help people:

• understand aspergillosis and related conditions
• understand tests, treatments and medical terminology
• make sense of new research and developments
• find practical information about living with aspergillosis
• identify useful questions to discuss with their healthcare team
• participate more confidently in decisions about their healthcare

Our information is intended to support the relationship between patients and their healthcare professionals, not replace it.

How we use evidence

When creating or substantially updating medical information, we aim to use the best relevant evidence available.

Depending on the subject, sources may include:

• peer-reviewed scientific research
• clinical guidelines and consensus statements
• systematic reviews and other evidence summaries
• medicines regulators and health services
• recognised professional and scientific organisations
• specialist clinical and scientific expertise
• patient experience and feedback, where appropriate

Where an important statement depends on particular research or guidance, we aim where practical to examine the original source rather than relying solely on information repeated or summarised elsewhere.

This is particularly important for health information online. Incorrect, outdated or poorly supported claims can be repeated across many websites and may appear well established simply because they are widely reproduced.

References and links to supporting evidence are provided where they are likely to help readers understand the source of important information.

Established knowledge, emerging evidence and uncertainty

Publication of a research study does not necessarily mean that clinical practice should change.

Laboratory research, case reports, observational studies and early clinical trials can provide important new information without yet establishing that a treatment or approach is effective in routine clinical practice.

We therefore aim to distinguish between:

• established medical knowledge and clinical practice
• evidence that is developing or incomplete
• promising new research that may influence future practice
• areas where evidence is conflicting
• questions for which there is currently no reliable answer

Where uncertainty exists, we aim to make that uncertainty clear.

Sometimes the most accurate answer is that we do not yet know.

Use of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are used to support some of our editorial and evidence-review work.

AI can help us search and compare large amounts of medical literature, identify potentially relevant evidence, check whether important aspects of a subject may have been missed, summarise complex research and help translate technical information into language that is easier to understand.

It can also help us maintain consistency across a large and interconnected information resource.

However, AI does not determine what we publish.

AI systems can make mistakes, omit important information or give too much weight to weak or outdated evidence. Important medical claims therefore need to be considered in the context of the underlying evidence.

Human editorial judgement determines the purpose, scope and final content of information published on Aspergillosis.org.

Human review and clinical oversight

Different types of health information carry different levels of clinical risk.

Straightforward explanations of established evidence can often be prepared and updated through evidence checking and editorial review without requiring specialist clinical review of every individual article.

Additional specialist clinical input is sought where appropriate, particularly where content:

• requires significant clinical interpretation
• concerns an area of genuine uncertainty or disagreement
• could imply a change in clinical practice
• involves important treatment or safety considerations
• could materially affect a patient’s healthcare decisions if interpreted incorrectly

This risk-based approach allows us to maintain and update a large information resource while concentrating specialist clinical expertise where it adds most value.

Our safety boundary

Aspergillosis.org provides health information. It does not provide individual diagnosis or treatment.

We may explain:

• diseases and symptoms
• investigations and what test results can mean
• medicines and other treatments
• recognised risks, interactions and side effects
• current research and emerging treatments
• practical aspects of living with aspergillosis
• questions that patients may wish to discuss with their healthcare team

We do not use website information to diagnose an individual patient, prescribe treatment, or tell an individual to start, stop or change prescribed treatment.

We also do not seek to overrule the healthcare professionals responsible for an individual’s care.

A patient’s own clinical team has access to information that a website cannot have, including medical history, examination findings, test results, other medical conditions and medicines.

Where information on this website raises a question about an individual’s care, we encourage patients to discuss it with their healthcare team.

Specialist advice

Aspergillosis can be complicated, and sometimes there is no simple answer.

Our information may identify an issue or treatment option that is worth discussing with a doctor or specialist team. This does not necessarily mean that existing care is incorrect.

Where additional expertise is required, healthcare professionals can seek specialist advice or refer patients to specialist services such as the National Aspergillosis Centre where appropriate.

Keeping information up to date

Medical knowledge changes continuously. New research is published, treatments develop and clinical guidance changes.

We review and update information as part of our ongoing editorial work, with particular attention to important new evidence, treatments, safety information and clinical guidance.

Questions and feedback from patients, carers and healthcare professionals also help us identify information that needs clarification, expansion or updating.

However, no medical information resource can guarantee that every page reflects every new development immediately.

Where available, the dates shown on our pages can help readers understand the currency of the information:

• Published — when the information was originally published.
• Last updated — when substantive changes were made to the content.
• Last reviewed — when the information and supporting evidence were checked and the content was considered to remain current.

Corrections and feedback

Accuracy matters to us.

If you believe information on Aspergillosis.org is incorrect, unclear, misleading or out of date, we welcome feedback and will investigate it.

Patient and carer feedback is also important in helping us understand whether information answers the questions people actually have, rather than simply providing information that professionals believe they need.

Our editorial principle

Our aim is not to replace healthcare professionals or make treatment decisions for individual patients.

Our aim is to provide accurate, evidence-based and understandable information that helps people affected by aspergillosis to:

understand their condition, make sense of the evidence, ask informed questions and work effectively with their healthcare team.