Fungal culture

Posted by maliko @maliko, Jan 24 2:38am

I recently had a bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage to get lung fluid to test for mac. Along with acid fast culture for mac , a fungal culture is also in progress. My question is how long does it take to process results for fungal culture? Also, what fungal species are usually tested in fungal culture? And lastly, if fungus is found, are they usually treated? Is the treatment lenghty like mac? Thank you

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hbcupcake | @hbcupcake | Apr 27 9:06pm

In reply to @jerseyeaglegirl "How did they confirm this? Another broncoscopy?" + (show)

I've had two bronchoscopies, Dec and Feb plus positive monthly sputum tests so far

jerseyeaglegirl | @jerseyeaglegirl | Apr 28 12:22am

Wow. Did they intubate you? How bad was the procedure?

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Beejenigma | @beejenigma | 6 days ago

I have aspergillosis, which is a fungal disease

hbcupcake | @hbcupcake | 6 days ago

In reply to @jerseyeaglegirl "Wow. Did they intubate you? How bad was the procedure?" + (show)

The 1st one was done under twilight, numbing down the nose w spray and nublized lidocaine. I woke up during and remembered it so I did my second one under full anesthesia. If you process anesthesia quickly make sure they take you seriously. It's a quick, outpatient and faster since you don't wait for 3 positive cultures

tiredgranny2 | @tiredgranny2 | 2 days ago

In reply to @hbcupcake "Hi I'm new here and I have BE, mac, aspergillosis and abpa. My ID is treating..." + (show)

I also have BE, MAC, and ABPA, as well secondary adrenal insufficiency from years of treating my asthma with steroids. I also live in California!

I am currently on a biologic, Fascenra, to suppress my asthma reactivity. Also Spireva and a steroid inhaler. I'm not sure these meds have been effective. What has been effective is my anti-fungal course, itraconazole 200 mg x 2 - I've been healthier this year than I have been in a very long time. I'm not sure why my pulmonologist was reluctant to endorse the antifungal, but for me it has been a complete game changer. I also nebulize levabuterol and 7% saline twice a day, and I really feel the difference if I neglect those treatments. My ID doc has not pushed me to address the MAC, I presume because my ABPA has been uncontrolled and I've been hospitalized with pneumonia/sepsis/fungus five times in the past two years.

At some point, once I've stabilized (now dealing with another bout of steroid induced adrenal insufficiency), I will tackle the MAC problem. It's my understanding that it's a slow growing bug and it's my hope that there could be new treatments online in the next year or so. I also just don't feel strong enough to deal with the side effects of the BIG 3.