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Two unusual organisms, Aspergillus terreus and Metschnikowia pulcherrima, associated with the lung disease of ankylosing spondylitis
  1. W. P. U. Kennedy1,
  2. L. J. R. Milne2,
  3. W. Blyth3,
  4. G. K. Crompton1
  1. Respiratory Diseases Unit, Northern General Hospital, Edinburgh
  2. 1Department of Respiratory Diseases, University of Edinburgh
  3. 2Central Microbiological Laboratory, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
  4. 3Department of Botany, University of Edinburgh

    Abstract

    Two male patients with ankylosing spondylitis and upper lobe fibrosis and cavitation are described. A pneumonic disease in one was associated with mycological and serological evidence of infection with Aspergillus terreus but no other aspergillus species. A large pulmonary mycetoma developed in the second patient and among a number of other fungal isolates was found the yeast Metschnikowia pulcherrima. The association of ankylosing spondylitis with bronchopulmonary aspergillosis is considered; A. terreus is described for the first time as a human pulmonary pathogen, and the possible pathogenicity of M. pulcherrima in the debilitated human subject is discussed.

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