|
|
14th July 2002
It is with great sorrow that we have to report that Mary Jo died recently from complications of the illnesses that she so eloquently wrote about in these articles. She wrote these articles and was an active member of the patients discussion group management team in her efforts to try to help people in a similar circumstances and in that she found much success - we will miss her.
The Aspergillus website team
A lifetime with ABPA by Mary Jo
Mary Jo is an active member of the Aspergillus discussion group . She has suffered from Allergic BronchoPulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA) for most of her life. This disease is caused by a non-invasive Aspergillus infection of the lungs. The fungus inhabits the air spaces of the lungs, living on the surface of the sensitive lung tissue causing inflammation but does not invade the lung tissue.
This means that although ABPA is not a rapidly fatal disease (i.e. unlike invasive aspergillosis, which needs rapid treatment), at the moment it is usually permanent.
The inflammation of the lung tissue can make breathing difficult, so steroids (e.g. prednisone) are used to control this. The antifungal drug itraconazole (Sporanox) has been recently shown to also help control the disease.
Mary Jo's story:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 - Ovarian cyst, and deflazacort
Part 4 - Disability
Part 5 - Odd rashes, sporanox and some final thoughts
Appendix A - Prednisone
Appendix B - Bronchiectasis