10th Anniversary of the Aspergillus website.

The Aspergillus website is a worldwide comprehensive resource providing a wide range of information about the fungus Aspergillus and the diseases such as Aspergillosis that it can cause. This site provides an encyclopaedia of Aspergillus for doctors, scientists, patients and their relatives.

Aspergillus is a fungus whose spores are present in the air we breathe, but do not normally cause illness. However an individual with a weakened immune status may be susceptible to aspergillus infection.

Aspergillosis is a group of diseases which can result from aspergillus infection and includes invasive aspergillosis, ABPA and aspergilloma. Some asthma patients with very severe asthma may also be sensitised to fungi like aspergillus (SAFS).

There is a section devoted to the needs of patients, friends and family suffering from the effects of Aspergillosis. Aspergillosis may affect patients whose immune system may be compromised - including those with Leukaemia, Chemotherapy patients or those on steroids, Transplant patients, Cystic fibrosis, HIV or AIDS, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), Severe asthma with fungal sensitivity (SAFS) and many others.

Sources of increased risk include - dirty air conditioning units, compost heaps and damp or flood- damaged housing, all of which can yield higher numbers of aspergillus spores.
Aspergillus does not solely affect humans; birds and animals can also develop aspergillosis, and some plant diseases and food spoilage may be due to aspergillus infection.

A multilingual translation of information about aspergillus and aspergillosis is available.