title: Fatal aspergillosis associated with smoking contaminated marijuana, in a marrow transplant recipient.
abstract: A 34-year-old man presented with pulmonary aspergillosis on the 75th day after marrow transplant for chronic myelogenous leukemia. The patient had smoked marijuana heavily for several weeks prior to admission. Cultures of the marijuana revealed Aspergillus fumigatus with morphology and growth characteristics identical to the organism grown from open lung biopsy specimen. Despite aggressive antifungal therapy, the patient died with disseminated disease. Physicians should be aware of this potentially lethal complication of marijuana use in compromised hosts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hamadeh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ardehali
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Locksley
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: York
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002188:Cannabis / Q000382:microbiology*; D004340:Drug Contamination; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D008172:Lung Diseases, Fungal / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking