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.

Vertical distribution of polychaetes in brackishwater pond of Nethravathi estuary, India

Vertical distribution of polychaetes in a semi-enclosed brackishwater pond of Nethravathi estuary was studied for one year from February 2004 to January 2005. The semienclosed brackishwater pond is a shallow water body with an average depth of 1-1.5 m with an area of 12 ha having direct connection with the estuary which opens into the Arabian sea. A total of nine species of polychaetes were identified. Among these, Dendronereis aestuarina and D. arborifera were most common and accounted for 65.62% of total abundance. The fauna were more abundant at 5-10 cm depth than at 0-5 cm depth and decreased beyond 10 cm depth. Species composition and the abundance of polychaetes were generally high during postmonsoon followed by premonsoon and monsoon season. Polychaete abundance showed positive significant correlation with organic carbon content at all depth layers of sediments in all the stations.