Pulmonary aspergillosis in two families.

Abstract

REPORTS of more than one case of pulmonary aspergillosis occurring in a family are rare. Hertzog, Smith & Goblin (1949) described a brother and sister aged 5 and 11 who died of pneumonia within a month of each other, necropsy in one of them showing multiple granulomata from which A. fumigatus was isolated. More recently, Strelling et al. (1966) reported two fatal cases of the invasive type of aspergillosis in two sisters, aged 4 years and 14 months respectively. In both cases the lungs were full of nodular lesions tending to become confluent, and A. funmigatus was cultured from lungs, and tracheobronchial lymph glands, which were enlarged. Because familial incidence of the allergic eosinophilic infiltration type of aspergillosis has not previously been reported, four such cases, occurring in two families are described.