Why is pulmonary fungal disease considered a hidden killer?

This is the information at the scientific workshop "Challenges in diagnosing and treating pulmonary fungus" organized by the Central Lung Hospital on the afternoon of February 1 to update knowledge on diagnosing and treating pulmonary fungus for medical staff and doctors working at medical facilities nationwide.

Every year, more than 2 million people die worldwide from fungal diseases and cause long-term illness in hundreds of millions of people.

Vietnam is the country with the 5th highest burden of chronic fungal diseases in the world with about 15,000 cases of invasive pulmonary mycosis each year, of which chronic pulmonary mycosis caused by Aspergillus accounts for about 55,000 cases.

Why is lung disease considered the number one killer that kills millions of people every year? Image 1 — Pulmonary fungal disease is difficult to detect and is the cause of death of more than 2 million people each year (photo source: Central Lung Hospital).

The mortality rate of invasive pulmonary fungal infection is very high, ranging from 30-80%, especially if left untreated, 100% of patients will die.

Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis if not diagnosed and treated promptly after 5 years, the mortality rate is approximately 50%.

About 50% of people who have had tuberculosis and come back to respiratory clinics have Aspergillus lung fungus.

More alarmingly, 90% of people infected with pulmonary fungus remain in the community. If they are not screened and detected early for timely treatment, the risk of serious illness and death is very high.

Aspergillus lung fungus often causes disease in people with immunodeficiency, lung disease or COPD...

Fungal diseases are a global health threat, yet they are currently under-recognized in terms of diagnostic and treatment approaches.

If diagnosed and treated promptly, 1.3 million deaths from fungal infections, especially lung fungus, could be prevented each year.

Mr. Dinh Van Luong, Director of the Central Lung Hospital, said: "Molds are common in the environment, but often cause disease in people with weakened immune systems or underlying lung disease."

The most common fungal lung disease is caused by Aspergillus. Aspergillosis is an infection caused by a very common mold that is found both indoors and outdoors.

Although people often inhale this fungus from the air, it only affects people with severely weakened immune systems such as patients with leukemia, cancer of other organs, after organ transplants or long-term treatment with immunosuppressive drugs.

This fungus can cause disease in people who have had/are having lung diseases, such as patients who have had tuberculosis, asthma or cystic fibrosis...

According to Dr. Dinh Van Luong, lung fungus is a disease that is difficult to detect even for medical staff.

Worldwide, deaths related to fungal diseases are about 3.8 million people per year, higher than deaths from tuberculosis (1.3 million cases), 5 times higher than deaths from malaria. In Vietnam alone, invasive Aspergillus accounts for 23,470 cases, and chronic Aspergillus accounts for 115,000 cases.

Aspergillus infection has a high mortality rate and is a "challenge" for many doctors in diagnosing correctly and detecting early, but Dr. Dinh Van Luong said that some groups of people at high risk of Aspergillus infection that medical staff can think of are COPD patients who are hospitalized but do not respond to antibiotic treatment, patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis with cavities, or have been treated for recurrent lung infections, or people with asthma...

Dr. Nguyen Bich Ngoc, Head of the Respiratory Department, Central Lung Hospital, said that diagnosing and treating Aspergillus fungus is a challenge for doctors globally as well as in Vietnam. "Lung fungus is a disease that progresses very quickly and is difficult to diagnose.

There are cases where the patient has already died by the time the disease is diagnosed," said Dr. Nguyen Bich Ngoc.

Recent updates show that each year there are 2 million cases of invasive Aspergillus infection in COPD patients worldwide, and 1 million deaths due to invasive Aspergillus.

The Head of the Respiratory Department, Central Lung Hospital said: "The Central Lung Hospital has submitted to the Ministry of Health guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of chronic pulmonary Aspergillus infection."

If approved, it would help infectious disease and respiratory medicine doctors diagnose and treat this difficult-to-detect disease.

Dr. Nguyen Bich Ngoc also warned that for COPD patients, patients in intensive care for a long time without improvement, cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, or who have had tuberculosis, had lung surgery... and cough up blood but have no tuberculosis bacteria in their sputum, medical staff need to consider the possibility that the patient may be infected with Aspergillus fungus.

"Fungal treatment drugs are very expensive. Patients have to be treated for a long time, so the cost is very high," said Dr. Nguyen Bich Ngoc.

To protect the health of people with weakened immune systems and those at high risk of Aspergillus infection as mentioned above, Dr. Nguyen Bich Ngoc advises that patients should not go to crowded places. If they have to go to places that pose a health risk, they should wear a mask to prevent Aspergillus infection.

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