This man, who is not named, is believed to have had a fully active immune system and yet when he accidentally inhaled large numbers of spores when opening bags of garden compost his immune system was rapidly overwhelmed.
This news article was originally written in The Guardian in 2008 and is reproduced here as an extremely rare example of invasive aspergillosis in a person who was as far as is known completely healthy at the time of infection and acts as a warning to everyone to avoid opening bags of compost in close proximity to your face, or indoors.
Man dies after inhaling fungal spores from garden compost
· Common mould can harm lungs, scientists warn
· An ‘occupational hazard’ for gardeners, but risk low
by Jo Adetunji
- The Guardian, Friday 13 June 2008
- Article history