Lung disease can occur when a person is exposed to high levels of fungal spores and proteins in the course of their work, for example:
- Via contaminated raw materials (e.g. wood chippings, domestic waste)
- Industrial production of enzymes for detergents (Green and Beezhold, 2011)
- Workers in offices affected by damp and ventilation problems
- Agricultural workers and soldiers may be at risk of implantation mycoses from thorns
- Construction workers handling large quantities or bird/bat guano without appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) may inhale enough dimorphic fungal spores to cause serious lung infections (e.g. Histoplasmosis)
- Health or beauty sector workers may be exposed to fungal infections of the skin, hair and nails (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, US Government)
The most common lung diseases linked to fungal exposure at work, include hypersensitivity pneumonitis or extrinsic allergic alveolitis, asthma and community-acquired pneumonia (rare). About 30% of cases of adult-onset asthma are linked to working conditions. Fungal exposure can exacerbate asthma leaving it poorly controlled and requiring hospitalisation.
For more information on occupational hypersensitivity pneumonitis (a Th1-mediated immune response) please refer to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology position paper (Quirce et al, 2014) or the guides by NIH and Medscape. For general information about hypersensitivity pneumonitis please see this Nature primer by Costabel et al (2020)
For a review on occupational asthma (Th2 response) please see Kim et al (2016) or Tarlo and Lemiere (2014).
Industry-specific conditions
| Disease | Fungus | Mechanism of exposure |
| Farmer’s lung | Penicillium brevicompactum, Penicillium olivicolor | Turning or storing damp hay, opening bales for feeding livestock threshing mouldy grain |
| Mushroom worker’s lung | Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus osteatus, Lentinus edodes | Spawning sheds |
| Malt worker’s lung | Aspergillus clavatus | Handling grain |
| Suberosis | Penicillium glabrum (previously known as P. frequentans) | Storage of hot damp cork |
| Maple bark stripper’s lung | Cryptospora corticale | Stripping bark from logs |
| Sequoiosis | Aureobasidium pullulans | Damp saw mill dust |
| Wood pulp worker’s lung | Alternaria spp. | Pulping contaminated wood |
| Wine grower’s lung | Botrytis cinerea | Mould contamination |
| Cheese worker’s lung | Penicillium casei/P. roqueforte | Cleaning mould off cheese |
| Tobacco worker’s lung | Aspergillus fumigatus | Handling contaminated tobacco |
| Summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis | Trichosporon cutaneum | Damp wood and mats |
| Peat moss worker’s lung | Penicillium citreonigrum | Peat moss |
| Paprika-slicer’s lung | Mucor stolonifer | Paprika |
| Humidified lung | Rhodotorula | Humidifiers |
| Food processor’s lung | Penicillium verrucosum, P. camemberti | Food processors |