An invasive aspergillosis model in rabbits was attempted using 3 concentrations of A. fumigatus conidia. Conidia concentrations of 1 x 10(6), 1 x 10(7) and 1 x 10(8) were inoculated intravenously into rabbits. The severity of infection was directly proportional to the inoculum size of the conidia. Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from livers, kidneys, spleens, hearts and lungs of infected rabbits at a rate of 82%, 75%, 57%, 54% and 32% respectively. Cultures of urine specimens taken by bladder tap were positive for A. fumigatus in 30% of the rabbits tested. Blood cultures using the Bactec Fungal System (Becton Dickinson Corp., USA) failed to isolate A. fumigatus in 20 rabbits with biopsy-proven invasive apergillosis. Active infection with high fungal tissue burden occurred between 2-4 days after infection in rabbits inoculated with 1 x 10(7) conidia.
Pulmonary aspergilloma is by no means uncommon in Malaysia. The lack of documentation of its occurrence in Malaysia, is mainly due to the lack of clinical awareness, and the absence of facilities for the proper diagnosis of the infection.
Spontaneous fatal aspergillosis occurred in several species of parrots imported from Latin America, Australia, Malaya and Ghana for studies on the control of psittacosis. Over a period of 4 years, 655 parrots were imported for use in these studies. All birds that died during these investigations were necropsied, and the internal organs of 45 were found to have macroscopic lesions suggestive of aspergillosis. Of these 45 suspected cases, 32 were confirmed as aspergillosis by both histopathology and culture, and three others by histopathology alone. There was no evidence that the remaining 10 had this disease. Of the 32 culturally confirmed cases, 13 were found to be caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, 16 by A. oryzae, and three by both fungi. In this series, three sets of circumstances appear to have been associated with the development of fatal aspergillosis. Their capture and transport to the United States, the administration of chlortetracycline used in the control of psittacosis, and the administration of cortisone acetate in an attempt to activate existent latent psittacosis infections. The possible causal relationship of these factors are discussed.