Most patients with pulmonary fungal coughing up unknown reasons, prolonged fever with chest pain, shortness of breath is easily confused with other diseases.
Information was Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Central Lung Hospital, said at the Science Conference Global Mushroom Day 2025February 28. This is an opportunity to raise the awareness of health workers as well as the community about this disease, while helping doctors update knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of lung fungal.
According to the global action organization on fungal infection (Gaffi), mushrooms are the silent killer, the cause of the death of more than 4 million people each year – this makes fungal disease one of the leading causes of death in the globe, before tuberculosis and malaria. Globally, each year is estimated to have more than 300 million people of all ages suffering from serious fungal infections, which is the fifth cause of death in the world.
“In particular, lung fungus has been known for a long time but there is no proper attention about this disease,” Dr. Ngoc said, adding that Vietnam has no specific data on invasive fungal disease caused by Aspergillus. However, about 50% of patients who have had tuberculosis, come to the medical examination at Aspergillus fungal respiratory facilities.
Lung fungus is a lung infection, rarely found in normal people with good resistance. The disease is common in people with immunodeficiency, old weak, long -term chronic disease. The rate of lung fungal disease accounts for only 0.02% of lung diseases, but when mushrooms are not detected in time, the likelihood of death is very high.
The cause of pulmonary fungal disease is caused by fungi: Candida, Aspergillus, cryptococcus. In it, the most common is the Aspergillus. Most patients often come to the examination because coughing out for unknown reasons, prolonged fever with chest pain, coughing sputum prolonged with shortness of breath like asthma. Along with that are cases of diagnosis of pneumonia treatment for prolonged antibiotic treatment.
Doctor Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Central Lung Hospital, shared about pulmonary fungal disease. Image: Thu Huong
Dr. Dinh Van Luong, Director of the Central Lung Hospital, said that the diagnosis of the current fungal infection still faces many difficulties in clinical doubts and necessary tests to diagnose the disease. Therefore, the disease is susceptible to missing or misdiagnosis. If not diagnosed and treated, the destroyed lungs will be growing, leading to lung loss. In the world, the survival rate of patients after one year, 5 years, 10 years is 86%, 62%, 47%.
Aspergillus fungal disease can be treated with antifungal drugs. In case of late diagnosis and treatment, it is necessary to have surgery, the hemostatic node in parallel with the treatment of prolonged fungal drugs. In these cases, the risk of death is higher.
Currently, the Central Lung Hospital, the National TB Program has built a diagnostic diagnosis of the chronic pulmonary Aspergillus fungal treatment, approved by the Ministry of Health to support the diagnosis and treatment with a specialized network from the central to grassroots level. This guide is being disseminated to establishments across the country.
According to medical experts, to prevent lung fungal disease, it is necessary to regularly exercise the body, eat lots of fresh fruits, improve resistance. Avoid mold in the house, furniture neatly arranged, sunny enough, ventilated to avoid moisture. When cleaning the house, you need to wear a mask to avoid breathing in dust.