Lung disease can occur when a person is exposed to high levels of fungal spores and proteins in the course of their work, for example:
- Via contaminated raw materials (e.g. wood chippings, domestic waste)
- Industrial production of enzymes for detergents (Green and Beezhold, 2011)
- Workers in offices affected by damp and ventilation problems
- Agricultural workers and soldiers may be at risk of implantation mycoses from thorns
- Construction workers handling large quantities or bird/bat guano without appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) may inhale enough dimorphic fungal spores to cause serious lung infections (e.g. Histoplasmosis)
- Health or beauty sector workers may be exposed to fungal infections of the skin, hair and nails (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, US Government)
The most common lung diseases linked to fungal exposure at work, include hypersensitivity pneumonitis or extrinsic allergic alveolitis, asthma and community-acquired pneumonia (rare). About 30% of cases of adult-onset asthma are linked to working conditions. Fungal exposure can exacerbate asthma leaving it poorly controlled and requiring hospitalisation.
For more information on occupational hypersensitivity pneumonitis (a Th1-mediated immune response) please refer to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology position paper (Quirce et al, 2014) or the guides by NIH and Medscape. For general information about hypersensitivity pneumonitis please see this Nature primer by Costabel et al (2020)
For a review on occupational asthma (Th2 response) please see Kim et al (2016) or Tarlo and Lemiere (2014).
Condiciones de la industria
| Nombre de la enfermedad | Hongos implicados | Proceso |
| Pulmón del granjero | Penicillium brevicompactum/ olivicolor | Remover o almacenar heno húmedo, manejar balas para alimentar el ganado, trillar grano contaminado con hongos |
| Pulmón de los cultivadores de hongos | Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus osteatus, Lentinus edodes | Exposición en naves de cultivo |
| Pulmón de los trabajadores de la malta | Aspergillus clavatus | Manipulación de grano |
| Suberosis | Penicillium glabrum (previamente P. frequentans) | Almacenamiento de corcho húmedo y caliente |
| Pulmón de los manipuladores de la corteza del arce | Cryptospora corticale | Retirada de la corteza de troncos de arce |
| Sequoiosis | Aureobasidium pullulans | Exposición al serrín contaminado |
| Pulmón de los trabajadores de la pulpa de madera | Alternaria spp. | Exposición a la pulpa contaminada |
| Pulmón de los viticultores | Botrytis cinerea | Exposición a vides contaminadas con el hongo |
| Pulmón de los lavadores de queso | Penicillium casei/P. roqueforte | Limpieza de la capa de hongos que cubre el queso |
| Pulmón de los trabajadores del tabaco | Aspergillus fumigatus | Manipulación de tabaco contaminado |
| Summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis | Trichosporon cutaneum | Damp wood and mats |
| Peat moss worker’s lung | Penicillium citreonigrum | Peat moss |
| Paprika-slicer’s lung | Mucor stolonifer | Paprika |
| Humidified lung | Rhodotorula | Humidifiers |
| Food processor’s lung | Penicillium verrucosum, P. camemberti | Food processors |