Pneumonia is "an infection in the lung parenchyma," according to the Cleveland Clinic, decreasing the lungs' ability to supply oxygen to the body. Fungus spores are present in most healthy people, but with the introduction of pneumonia, the body is unable to create the normal defenses to counter the negative effects of the fungi. The incidence of fungal pneumonia is not common, but doctors frequently mistake the disease for the more common bacterial pneumonia.
Causes
Pneumonia is caused by the presence of "pneumocystis jiroveci," which is present in the lungs of most healthy individuals and is usually inhaled as spores. Occasionally, spores enter the bloodstream through injuries or unrelated diseases. The fungi involved vary depending on the individual infection, and the region of the world where the fungus was encountered, but most often these include paracoccidioides brasiliensis, blastomyces dermatitidis, histoplasma capsulatum, and coccidioides immitis. Related lymphocutaneous diseases cause fungal pneumonia inflections. A related group of fungal infections, called "opportunistic" infections, also lead to fungal pneumonia, but these infect people who have immuno-compromised systems due either to hereditary or acquired causes such as HIV infections. This fungal group includes the species candidiasis, mucormycosis, cryptococcus neoformans and aspergillus.
Symptoms
Typical symptoms of a fungal pneumonia infection include a dry cough, mild fever, chest pain, wheezing and shortness of breath. As the disease progresses, the breath will become shorter and the cough more severe until, in the most severe cases of the disease, the individual is unable to breathe without assistance.
Diagnosis
Since fungal pneumonia is less common than other forms of pneumonia, most medical practitioners will first test for more common forms of pneumonia. The Cleveland Clinic states that chest radiography and fluid samples (blood and sputum) are typically taken for laboratory analysis. If fungal pneumonia is initially suspected, diagnostic techniques may include fine needle aspirate and fiberoptic bronchoscopy. In extreme cases, an open lung biopsy or thoracoscopic biopsy may be performed. New diagnostic methods include spiral computed tomography scanning and pulmonary high resolution scanning, although the expense of this equipment eliminates the availability of the test in many clinics and rural hospitals.
Treatment
The most basic form of fungal pneumonia (endemic mycoses) usually does not require any treatment; other forms require a basic drug treatment that involves antibacterial agents. The type of fungal infection determines the drug treatment mixture, with severe cases of the disease requiring surgery to remove the infected tissue.
Survival Rate
The survival rate for otherwise healthy people depends on the strain of the fungal infection and the health of the individual, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The earlier the disease is diagnosed, the shorter the length of illness and the greater the chance of survival. The most virulent forms of the disease have an 80 percent mortality rate if the disease goes untreated. According to researchers Johan Maertens, Wouter Meersseman, and Pascal Van Bleyenbergh, reporting in the journal "Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases" in 2009, the survival rate in immuno-compromised individuals, even when the disease is diagnosed early and appropriate medication is given, is nearly 50 percent in some clinical trials.
