Fusarium proliferatum
Summary
Fusarium proliferatum (Gibberella fujikuroi) is a ubiquitous mold of the order Hypocreales, mostly found in plant materials and soil worldwide. It shows a variety of phenotypes and is a known plant pathogen and producer of mycotoxins. The particles causing allergic reactions are spores found in the environment.
F. proliferatum hypersensitivity may present with symptoms of respiratory allergy such as asthma or rhinitis; molds of the Fusarium genus are also able to cause opportunistic disease. Cross reactivity with other molds, especially if taxonomically close, may occur.
Epidemiology
Worldwide distribution
Hypersensitivity caused by Fusarium spp. has been described in several countries around the world, including India, Sweden, Malaysia, Greece and Taiwan.
Route Of Exposure
Main
Inhalation.
Clinical Relevance
There appears to be a scarcity of studies focusing on the specific allergic conditions caused by F. proliferatum. However, several studies have shown associations between Fusarium spp. and patients with a history of allergic conditions such as asthma, eczema, conjunctivitis and rhinitis.
Other diseases
F. proliferatum is able to cause opportunistic disease; a case report showed that a 78-year old patient presenting with fever as the only symptom fungemia in. In two other reports F. proliferatum caused fungus ball sinusitis (a non-invasive form of fungal rhinosinusitis) in three patients. Fusarium spp. were isolated from 5,321 cases of fungal keratitis; of these, 155 were caused by F proliferatum. The related species Fusarium napiforme caused hypersensitivity pneumonitis in a 17-year old patient; the mold was isolated from the home environment.
F. proliferatum was identified as one of the two most likely Fusarium species that cause fusariosis in European countries.
Diagnostics
Main methods
Personal volumetric petri plate sampler
Measures
The concentrations of Fusarium spp. spores ranged between 51–132 CFU/.
The presence of allergen-specific antibodies is usually determined by skin prick tests (SPTs) and serology for IgE. In a study of 571 patients with a history of atopy, 42.5% had a positive SPT result to mold allergens, including Fusarium spp. In another study using SPTs in 85 patients with a history suspicious of inhalant allergies, 23.5% tested positive to Fusarium spp. Of the patients testing positive to Fusarium spp., 15.3% were found to have concomitant allergic conditions such as asthma, eczema or allergic conjunctivitis
Prevention And Therapy
Allergen immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is currently not recommended for patients allergic to molds, due to complexities of the allergens and patient co-allergies.
Prevention strategies
Avoidance is difficult to achieve, due to the wide range of environments in which Fusarium spp. can be found.
Cross-Reactivity
Cross-reactivity has been demonstrated to other molds. In a study carried out on 668 serum samples from patients which who had previously recorded at least one IgE positivity to fungal antigens, associations were observed between the patterns of IgE sensitization and fungal phylogenetic relationships. Using a panel of 17 fungal extracts including F. proliferatum, some samples were only positive to one fungal species, whereas many were multi-sensitized. The results suggest that the associations are likely due to antigen cross-reactivity between fungal species, not uncommon in more closely related species. In another study, IgE from patients with a history of respiratory allergies (asthma and/or rhinitis) showed cross-reactivity between a F. proliferatum serine protease and a Penicillium spp. antigen.
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