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40th Anniversary of first report of ABPA in a young child
The original paper shows it was diagnosed using clinical and laboratory features including "wheezing with fever, transient pulmonary infiltrates, eosinophilia of blood and sputum, septate hyphae and positive culture for Aspergillus fumigatus in the sputum, and skin sensitising antibody and precipitating antibody to Aspergillus fumigatus" "Treatment was successful and included administration of corticosteroids orally and of amphotericin B by aerosol" The last Dr Slavin heard of her, she was working full-time in California. This Month
In addition all of the abstracts (189 abstracts) from the meeting are available to search and browse here. We also have a brand new treatment article written for the Aspergillus Website by Professor Philip Thomas of Joseph Eye Hospital, Tiruchirapalli, India on the subject of Aspergillus endophthalmitis. Latest News and ArticlesContinuing the paediatric theme we have a substantial review this month entitled Aspergillus and the paediatric lung. This is a broad ranging review covering many forms of aspergillosis, its diagnosis and treatment. There have been 50 additions to the articles section, 7 of which are reviews. We have picked out a few of the highlights here: Growth of some Aspergillus fumigatus strains in the presence of high concentrations of caspofungin is upregulated - the well known 'paradoxical effect' of some echinocandin antifungal drugs. This paper shows that specific genes that control chitin biosynthesis are upregulated. The use of portable HEPA filtration is found to reduce the rate of invasive aspergillosis on high risk wards by 50%, a highly statistically significant result. The extra cost of providing such filtration would be more than offset by the decreases in patient infection. ReviewsEpidemiology of Invasive Mycoses in North America "The most important agents of the opportunistic mycoses are Candida spp., Epidemics of mold poisoning past and present Interesting epidemics from the past and more modern examples of illness caused by mold toxicity. In England in the 1700's two epidemics are described which caused widespread infant mortality and there were similar descriptions in France and Germany. The epidemics seemed to stop and population increased as the diet switched from primarily eating rye to using wheat as the staple source of carbohydrate. The evidence supports the likelyhood that damp rye grain became infected with a fungus and consequently became contaminated with mycotoxin. Other examples are quoted but this is not just a historical article. The hurricanes striking the US in 1999 & 2004 are covered and the current debate on possible health effects of indoor moulds making mycotoxins in the home is discussed. Murine models of airway fungal exposure and allergic sensitization Mouse models for imitating the effects of inhaling fungal spores in humans are important tools for us to use understand fungal inhalation and allergic sensitization with a view to preventing illness or to treat illness. This review summarises several different models and their strengths and weaknesses. Treatment (Registration required)We have a brand new treatment article written for the Aspergillus Website on the subject of Aspergillus endophthalmitis. Register here. Laboratory protocolsThis section has been added to and reorganised with over 80 new protocols added from the laboratories here at the National Aspergillosis Centre PatientsEight talks from the Aspergillosis for Patients meeting in Rome (Feb 2010) are now available for you to watch here Easter CardsA patient volunteer is making & selling handmade cards for birthdays in aid of the Fungal Research Trust. 6 cards for £6 and 75% of that goes to the FRT. Order here. There is a newly designed Patients website now entitled 'Aspergillosis Patient Support'. Much more comprehensive than before and easier to navigate but with the same successful support group and Q & A board Jobs4 jobs currently being advertised: View
Advertise your vacancy free of charge on the Aspergillus Website here Education and Teaching16 slide presentations from the Advances Against Aspergillosis 4th Meeting in Rome held on Feb 4th-6th, 2010, can now be viewed in the slides section of the educational materials. Courses and WorkshopsWe keep a listing of courses and workshops including 'one off' events and courses that repeat regularly. Course subjects are wide ranging and include medical mycology, lab ID, young scientists symposia and much more. Those coming up next are:
If you know of a course that should be added to this list please add it by contacting us here. VeterinaryVoriconazole at 40 mg/kg was efficacious in quail with experimental pulmonary aspergillosis. NB Vets in need of assistance with acquiring antifungals please contact us here Blog
Donate in Memory of Steph Smith
"A vibrant, caring, thoughtful young woman with a zest for life. She was a healthy and active young woman who was an accomplished highland dancer and ballet dancer, being a former member of the Scottish Ballet Junior Associate Scheme and also a member of Ballet West. She was a Young Leader within the Girl Guides working towards her Queens Badge, a former Head Girl of Nairn Academy and as a member of the school’s Samba Band travelled to Latvia and also played clarinet in the Inverness Wind Orchestra." Tragically she contracted invasive aspergillosis and after a very short illness she died. Her mum and her friend have decided to walk the West Highland Way (96 miles) in order to raise funds for the Fungal Research Trust in her memory Read more of her story in her blog and how to donate here. Technical TipsOur discussion group (email and/or website) designed to promote discussion on technical issues for laboratory workers. Searching the websiteThere is now a third facility to search for information on Aspergillus. Covering all the information in the Aspergillus Website and including a series of websites we feel contain useful information NOT currently available on the Aspergillus Website, the Aspergillus World search engine contains large amounts of focussed information from all over the world. If you can suggest more (particularly keen to access information on industrial applications) then let us know at admin@aspergillus.org.uk. RSSDownload our updates and articles automatically every time we add to those pages- no need to wait for the next newsletter. 40 000 pages accesses per month. Use RSS. You can now receive notification of updates to the Aspergillus Website on your mobile phone via SMS texting free of charge. Go to http://twitter.com/AspergillusWeb and open a Twitter account. Follow AspergillusWeb. Thanks for reading!Visit our website again soon. The Aspergillus Team. |
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Following the successful holding of a conference specifically for patients at the 4th Advances Against Aspergillosis (AAA) in Rome, Italy we can now announce that all of the talks given at the meeting (8 talks plus complete sets of slides) were recorded and are being made available for viewing free of charge on the Aspergillosis Patient Support website 
Steph Smith was 21 years old and full of love for life. Multitalented and enthusiastic she was loved by all she met and had just qualified to be a primary school teacher. In her mother's words:|
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