Acute pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompetent subjects after exposure to bark chippings

Abstract

We describe 2 cases of immunocompetent males with acute community-acquired invasive pulmonary aspergillosis developing shortly after spreading bark chippings. One patient with a fatal outcome was initially diagnosed as allergic alveolitis rather than infection and received steroid treatment illustrating the obvious challenges in the differential diagnosis between these disease entities.