Opportunistic fungal lung infections

Fungi are ubiquitous in the environment. Differentiating between invasive disease and harmless colonization is frequently difficult, but almost all endemic fungi causing significant lung disease occur in immunocompromised hosts. The particular fungal species involved, and the clinical manifestations that result, are dictated by the nature and degree of the immunocompromised state. Some non-endemic fungi cause significant disease in the immunocompetent host or reactivate in patients that become immunocompromised after many years of asymptomatic latent infection.