Assessment of the significance of respiratory culture of Aspergillus in the non-neutropenic patient. A critique of published diagnostic criteria.
Assessment of the significance of isolation of Aspergillus sp. from respiratory culture in patients who are not neutropenic is a continuing problem in respiratory medicine. In recent years a number of criteria for defining patients with invasive or chronic pulmonary aspergillosis in this group have been proposed. This study sought to assess the value of three sets of these criteria in distinguishing between colonisation and aspergillosis requiring therapy when applied retrospectively to 121 patients with positive sputum or BAL culture for Aspergillus sp. Two patients (1.6%) were identified as having proven or probable aspergillosis by the EORTC criteria, two different patients fulfilled the criteria for invasive aspergillosis in the 62 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3.2%), and yet another two different patients met the criteria for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (1.6%). It is suggested that difficulties in the application of some of these criteria may prevent the accurate diagnosis of aspergillosis in the non-neutropenic patient setting.
Mycology Reference Centre, Department of Microbiology, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK. Richard.Barton@leedsth.nhs.uk
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Hobson
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McLoughlin
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Morris
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Datta
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008828:Microbiological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055732:Pulmonary Aspergillosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000382:microbiology*; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult