A Critical Reappraisal of Prolonged Neutropenia as a Risk Factor for Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Michael S Abers; Musie S Ghebremichael; Allison K Timmons; H Shaw Warren; Mark C Poznansky; Jatin M Vyas

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofw036

A Critical Reappraisal of Prolonged Neutropenia as a Risk Factor for Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2016 Feb 12;3(1):ofw036. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofw036. eCollection 2016 Jan.

Authors

Michael S Abers¹, Musie S Ghebremichael², Allison K Timmons³, H Shaw Warren¹, Mark C Poznansky⁴, Jatin M Vyas¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School.
² Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine , Massachusetts General Hospital.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School; Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, MGH, Boston, Massachusetts.

Abstract

Prolonged neutropenia is generally thought to be the major factor for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). In the present study, we characterize the frequency, severity, and duration of neutropenia that immediately precedes IPA. Prolonged neutropenia was identified in only one third of all IPA cases and occurred exclusively in hematologic patients.

Keywords: Aspergillus; immunosuppression; invasive aspergillosis; invasive fungal infection; neutropenia.

Grants and funding

R01 AI097519/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States