Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. About a clinical case

Abstract

Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis is a rare infection caused by filamentous fungi of the genus Aspergillus. Clinical manifestations include persistent cough, hemoptysis, and weight loss, and typically develops in patients with prior structural lung damage. The most common clinical form is chronic cavitary pulmonary aspergillosis, which, if not recognized and treated promptly, can progress to chronic fibrosing pulmonary aspergillosis. Diagnostic criteria require a temporality of characteristic symptoms, imaging findings, direct microbiological evidence, or an immune response to Aspergillus spp., and the exclusion of other causes. We present the case of chronic cavitary pulmonary aspergillosis in an immunocompetent patient with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and review its epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects.