Context: For decades, Tuberculosis has plagued Assam’s tea garden workers, exacerbated by poverty and poor nutrition. Now, a new health burden- chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA), a fungal infection is emerging, which thrives in the damaged lungs of TB survivors.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis.
Major Highlights:
- Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health issue across the tea belts in Assam’s Brahmaputra and Barak valleys, afflicting 217 per 1,00,000 population, according to the National TB Prevalence Survey of 2019-2021.
- Risk factors for TB include poverty, poor nutrition, kitchen smoke, close contact with smear-positive patients, and living in congested environments.
- Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) thrives in the damaged lungs of TB survivors and strikes individuals with immunodeficiency. Assam’s high CPA prevalence of 60 cases per 1,00,000 people exceeds the global average of 42.
Read More: India to roll out new treatment regimen for drug-resistant TB
What is Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis?
- Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a life-threatening infection caused by a fungus (Aspergillus fumigatus) that strikes individuals with immuno-deficiency.
- Occurrence:
- CPA is a chronic lung disease that occurs commonly in pre-existing lung cavities.
- People affected by CPA have an underlying lung disease:
- CPA mostly occurs in post-TB or active TB patients and shares similar clinical features with tuberculosis.
- Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
- Asthma
- Lung cancer
- Post CoVID-19 pulmonary damage.
- Symptoms: Chronic cough, haemoptysis (blood in cough), weight loss or fatigue, breathlessness, and other respiratory symptoms. Can lead to respiratory failure, if left untreated.
- Diagnosis:
- Confirmation is achieved with a combination of radiological imaging and serological testing (detection of Aspergillosis IgG antibodies).
- Lung cavities can be imaged by chest X-rays.
- The disease is often misdiagnosed due to its similarity to TB.