Fungal Sensitization and Human Allergic Disease.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

Fungal sensitizations have been associated with hypersensitivity reactions with variable levels of evidence available to link types of fungi with human disease. We conducted systematic reviews of the literature to identify the strength of evidence linking lesser-studied fungi for which there are commercially available extracts to identify populations in which they were useful in clinical practice.

RECENT FINDINGS

Excluding five fungi for which hundreds of articles were identified, there are 54 articles on the remaining fungi with clinical data. For 12 of the fungi, the prevalence of fungal sensitization varies in different hypersensitivity disorders due to factors related to geographic areas, age, and other underlying medical conditions. There were no studies linking seven genera to human disease. Most of the commercially available fungal extracts are uncommonly associated with hypersensitivity reactions in humans. Specific extracts may be useful in particular disease states such as allergic fungal sinusitis or allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis, or when routine testing fails to identify a cause of uncontrolled disease, such as in asthma.