Leukemia & lymphoma
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Leukemia & lymphoma · Nov 2001
Case ReportsEarly invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a leukemia patient linked to aspergillus contaminated marijuana smoking.
46-year-old patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) whose disease manifested as fever, chills and dry cough is reported here. Despite broad antibiotic coverage he remained acutely ill with spiking fever, shaking chills, and hypoxemia. His initial chest radiograph was normal but chest computed tomography (CT) scan disclosed bilateral focal infiltrates. ⋯ We suggest that habitual smoking of Aspergillus-infested tobacco and marijuana caused airway colonization with Aspergillus. Leukemia rendered the patient immunocompromised, and allowed Aspergillus to infest the lung parenchyma with early occurrence of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Physicians should be aware of this potentially lethal complication of "hookah" and marijuana smoking in immunocompromised hosts.