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ANI

LONDON: The University of Manchester researchers revealed that there are
millions of fungal spores right under our noses, harboured in pillows.

According to a study, published in journal Allergy, the researchers
dissected both feather and synthetic samples and identified several thousand
spores of fungus per gram of used pillow. They studied samples from ten
pillows with between 1.5 and 20 years of regular use.

Aspergillus fumigatus, the species most commonly found in the pillows, is
most likely to cause disease; and the resulting condition Aspergillosis has
become the leading infectious cause of death in leukaemia and bone marrow
transplant patients.

Each pillow was found to contain a substantial fungal load, with four to 16
different species being identified per sample and even higher numbers found
in synthetic pillows. The microscopic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus was
particularly evident in synthetic pillows, and fungi as diverse as bread and
vine moulds and those usually found on damp walls and in showers were also
found.

"We know that pillows are inhabited by the house dust mite which eats fungi,
and one theory is that the fungi are in turn using the house dust mites'
faeces as a major source of nitrogen and nutrition. There could therefore be
a 'miniature ecosystem' at work inside our pillows," said lead researcher
Professor Ashley Woodcock.

Aspergillus is very difficult to treat, and as many as 1 in 25 patients who
die in modern European teaching hospitals have the disease.
Immuno-compromised patients such as transplantation, AIDS and steroid
treatment patients are also frequently affected with life-threatening
Aspergillus pneumonia and sinusitis.

Aspergillus can also worsen asthma, particularly in adults who have had
asthma for many years, and cause allergic sinusitis in patients with
allergic tendencies. Constant exposure to fungus in bed could be
problematic.

Fortunately, hospital pillows have plastic covers and so are unlikely to
cause problems, but patients being discharged home - where pillows may be
old and fungus-infected - could be at risk of infection.

"These new findings are potentially of major significance to people with
allergic diseases of the lungs and damaged immune systems - especially those
being sent home from hospital," said Dr Geoffrey Scott, Chairman of the
Fungal Research Trust which funded the study.

Since patients spend a third of their life sleeping and breathing close to a
potentially large and varied source of fungi, these findings certainly have
important implications for patients with respiratory disease - especially
asthma and sinusitis, the researchers conclude.

take care.

beamish.