We received a question from one of our website visitors. The question was “What can you tell me about mould growing in the lungs?? I have a friend who was first thought to have lung cancer but it has been confirmed that she has mould growing in her lungs faster than the lungs can repair themselves. Her symptoms are emphasemic like – but xrays say no. Can you offer any advice?”

Which mould could this one be? Some species of Aspergillus, primarily Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus cause a lung disease condition called Aspergillosis. There are three forms of aspergillosis namely allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), pulmonary aspergilloma and invasive aspergillosis. ABPA occurs in individuals with Type 1 hypersensitivity to Aspergillus spp. Pulmonary aspergilloma (also known as mycetoma or fungus ball) occurs in healthy individuals but requires a pre-existing cystic lung space in which to grow. Invasive aspergillosis occurs in severely immune-suppressed individuals.

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Botrytis cinerea is one of the leaf (also called phylloplane) moulds and is also soilborne. It is commonly found in outdoor air. Its occurrence indoors is not very common but it has been isolated from floor, carpet, and mattress dust.

Botrytis cinerea causes field diseases and storage rots of most vegetables and flowers. Botrytis cinerea is used in the wine industry. Grapes infected with Botrytis (referred to as “noble rot”) are used in the production of high quality sweet wines such as the Sauternes. The mould shrivels the fruit and thus concentrates the sugars within.

Botrytis cinerea has not been documented as a health hazard.

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I came across the article “No, Seriously. Save the Bananas” published in the New York Times (August 13, 2005) by Paul B. Brown. The article is on how the banana (variety Cavendish) was being wiped out by a fungus. This article reminded me of some research on this banana disease I conducted in East Africa in collaboration with scientists from CABI BioScience and University of Kent, UK in the late 1990s. The disease is commonly known as panama disease or fusarium wilt of banana. As the latter name suggests, the disease is caused by a special form of Fusarium oxysporum (Fusarium oxysporum special form cubense).

This fungus can be devastating to susceptible varieties of bananas. We witnessed whole “plantations” wiped out by this disease, causing a lot of suffering to poor farmers who depend on this crop for their livelihood. The fungus appears to have a liking for sweet varieties of bananas, i.e., varieties used for fruit or dessert. It goes through the roots and into the vascular bundles clogging them and hence restricting movement of water and nutrients. This results into yellowing and wilting of leaves and subsequently death of the whole banana plant. One striking phenomena about this fungus is that some strains (referred to as races) only attack specific cultivars of the sweet bananas and not others. However, the Cavendish is attacked by a strain recently discovered strain referred to as “race 4”, which is capable of attacking not only the Cavendish but also other cultivars susceptible to other races.

No, seriously, we need to save the banana from moulds.

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