208 



INFECTIONS CAUSED BY MOLDS 



Infection of the eggs is usually due to moldy nesting material. Ex- 

 periments have shown that if the eggs are carefully cleaned of their 

 fatty coating, infection will not take place. The infected eggs may 

 be detected by candling. 



Primary lesions of the lungs also occur in various domesticated 

 mammals, though not so frequently as in birds. Cattle, sheep, and 

 especially horses are known to develop aspergillosis. As with the 

 birds, infection comes from contaminated hay or grain, the spores be- 

 ing inhaled. In some cases particles of inhaled vegetable matter have 



been found in the lesions. The 

 pulmonary lesions may be either 

 nodular or pneumonic as in birds. 

 A. fumigatus is also patho- 

 genic to man. Some of the cases 

 described are infections of the 

 external ear. The extent of the 

 disease may vary from a mere 

 plugging of the ear canal with 

 mycelium, leading to impaired 

 hearing, to ulceration and sup- 

 puration of the walls of the canal, 

 or even to penetration of the 

 drum and invasion of the middle 

 ear. The milder cases are the 

 more numerous. Other species 

 of Aspergillus may also produce this condition, particularly A. niger,' 

 A. nidulans, and A. flavus. According to Siebenmann *' in Germany 

 about 1 per cent of all ear cases are Aspergillus infections. Asper- 

 gillosis of the ear is said to be particularly frequent in India. 



Aspergillosis of the lung also occurs in man, but it is rare.^- *' ^ 

 The majority of cases have been reported in France, though the 

 disease is also well known in Germany. The disease may be primary, 

 or secondary to some other condition, particularly tuberculosis. Lang 

 and Grubauer reported a case in which bronchiectasis was apparently 

 a predisposing cause. Secondary cases are more common than pri- 

 mary ones. It is quite possible that some of the cases reported as 

 primary were actually secondary to some other disease whose traces 

 were obliterated by the aspergillosis. On the other hand, it is quite 

 probable that some cases of primary pulmonary aspergillosis are 

 overlooked, being mistakenly diagnosed tuberculosis. Clinically the 

 disease resembles tuberculosis very closely, perhaps advancing some- 

 what more rapidly. According to Lapham ^ cases of primary asper- 



FiG. 106. Aspergillosis. Hyphal frag- 

 ments of Aspergillus fumigatus in 

 human sputum. 



