Thousands of patients with asthma may need anti-fungal therapy, experts have reported.
A study by researchers at Manchester University, UK, and Toronto University, Canada, says a condition called allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis affects millions of people with asthma world-wide.
The experts say it is a complication of asthma and patients benefit from anti-fungal drugs.
The report, in the journal Medical Mycology, is said to be the first to estimate how many people are affected – some 4,837,000 world-wide. This includes more than a million in Europe and 1.4 million in the Americas.
The researchers say this represents about 2% of 193 million people with asthma worldwide, including seven million in the UK and more than 20 million in India, China and the USA.
Researcher Professor David Denning, from Manchester University, said: “We were surprised by the number of patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, and by the lack of community based studies done.
“Our National Aspergillosis Centre treats hundreds of these patients each year, generally with major improvement, and so a conscious program to seek out ABPA from all asthmatics is required.”
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