Microscopic dust inhaled while working around rotting organic matter can contain spores that are able to produce a condition that can cause irreparable and sometimes fatal damage to the lungs and sinuses.

A recent report out of the U.K serves as a warning to landscape professionals, especially those who have asthma or a weak immune system, to protect themselves from a deadly fungus that may be present in materials such as compost heaps and in piles of rotting leaves.

Professor David Denning and his team at the National Aspergillosis Centre in Manchester, England issued the warning after treating a growing number of patients who have developed chronic fungal infections from inhaling Aspergillus fungal spores, which can be present in the air as rotting leaf, plant and tree mulch is being moved.

To protect against breathing in the spores, experts advise wearing masks when these materials are likely to be at hand, such as when bedding down gardens for the winter.

"For most of us there is no problem," Denning explains. "But for others it can cause long term breathing difficulties and damage that can be treated but never cured."

Gregor Campbell, 47, an art teacher from Paisley in Scotland, knows first-hand the devastating affect the fungus can have. Two years ago he developed a chronic fungal infection after cutting up wet and rotting logs to store and dry out for the winter.

"That summer I was being treated by the doctor for a lung condition, but I had been cycling to work every day and was I feeling well," Campbell recalls. "One weekend I started getting night sweats and on the Monday I was in a hospital. I was told I had pneumonia and was treated with antibiotics. I wasn't getting better. I only started to recover when the consultant correctly diagnosed chronic pulmonary Aspergillosis and prescribed me special drugs to fight the
fungal infection."

Campbell now only has two thirds of his breathing capacity after a fungal mass the size of a tennis ball was discovered in his lungs, and he has had to reduce his teaching time to three days a week. However, he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

"I was diagnosed pretty quickly and I am being looked after by the experts," admits Campbell. "I always thought that outside dirt was safe dirt. The suddenness of the whole thing shocked me the most."

"Most of us are either immune to the fungus or have a sufficiently healthy system to fight the infection," says Denning. "But, in asthma sufferers it can produce coughing and wheeziness, and in people with weak or damaged immune systems, such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and people who have an auto immune disease, the fungus can cause pulmonary Aspergillosis – a condition which can cause irreparable, and sometime fatal, damage to the lungs and sinuses."


 According to Denning, the Aspergillus fungus normally lives on dead animal or plant material and is vitally important to the environment for its role in recycling the organic material necessary for life.

It produces microscopically small spores that are extremely light and float easily in the air and by this mechanism
it is spread.

"My advice would be when in doubt wear a protective mask to be safe rather than sorry," Denning concludes.