Aspergillus fungi cause a range of diseases from infections to allergies. As a result, the diagnostic strategy and management depend on the disease and the patient. Invasive aspergillosis mostly affects immunosuppressed patients in hematology wards, but also patients undergoing solid organ transplants, immunosuppressive corticosteroid therapy, or biologic immunomodulators. Additionally, chronic aspergillosis represents a high burden of diseases in patients with chronic respiratory diseases, notably after pulmonary tuberculosis.
For such patients, the isolation of the fungal microorganism using a culture is necessary to identify the strain and its vitro anti-fungal susceptibility testing. With pulmonary tuberculosis, for example, serology testing with anti-Aspergillus IgG is essential for the diagnosis. PCR and/or biomarkers such as Aspergillus antigen are essential to evaluate the level of angioinvasion, which indicates progression and prognosis.
In this new Infectious Disease Webinar, Prof. Arunaloke Chakrabarti, MD, will review epidemiological data with a focus on the latest trends regarding invasive and chronic aspergillosis. Prof. Jean-Pierre Gangneux, PhD, will then discuss suitable diagnostic strategies to ensure optimal patient care.
Arunaloke Chakrabarti, MD
Director, Doodhadhari Burfani Medical Research Institute, India
Professor & Former Head, Department of Medical Microbiology, PGIMER
Former President, International Society for Human & Animal Mycology
Prof. Chakrabarti has helped develop the discipline of medical mycology, and laboratories in India and member countries of WHO SEARO (World Health Organization South-East Asia Region). WHO recognized his laboratory as a WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Fungi of Medical Importance. He is also working as a mentor for the development of Mycology Reference Laboratories, which is sponsored by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
He is also the international coordinator of WHO’s Antifungal Resistance Surveillance Network, a member in the WHO Antifungal Expert Group on Identifying R&D Priorities, the chair of the Asian Fungal Working Group under the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology, and chair of the Fungal Infection Study Forum. He is a deputy editor of four international journals – the Journal of Medical Microbiology, Mycoses, Current Fungal Infection Report, and the Medical Mycology Case Report. He received multiple awards from National Societies and Academies of India and was awarded the Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS), Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc), Fellow of European Confederation of Medical Mycology (FECMM), and Fellow Infectious Disease Society of America (FIDSA).
Jean-Pierre Gangneux, MD, PhD
Director, Laboratory of Mycology-Parasitology and
Department of Medical Biology, Rennes University Hospital
General Secretary, European Confederation for Medical Mycology
Former President, French Society for Medical Mycology
Prof. Gangneux is a professor in medicine, who has specialized in mycology and parasitology at the Rennes Teaching Hospital and Rennes 1 University in France. He is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of Candida and Aspergillus fungal infections. The main topic of his research is the complex host-microorganism interplay and environmental reservoirs of human pathogens (UMR INSERM U1085 - IRSET - University in Rennes). He has been the general secretary of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology since 2017 and was the president of the French Society for Medical Mycology (2012-2021). He is responsible for French national guidelines and study groups on health environmental risk (Ministère de l’Ecologie et Ministère de la Santé) and is an expert for the European Medical Agency (EMA) and the French Medical Agency (ANSM). He has also been an expert in various French and European study groups on Leishmaniasis, fungal diseases, chronic pulmonary diseases, and environmental health and was the European chairperson for the Leishmania study group of the European Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID-ESGCP). As the principal investigator of different research projects on medical mycology, he has organized multiple national and international meetings and published more than 220 articles in the field of medical mycology in scientific journals.