Rebecca Camber

June 15 2005

Scientists in Manchester have reached a "key milestone" in their study of the treatment of severe asthma, it emerged today.

The Manchester University researchers have discovered that the condition can be triggered by an allergic reaction to types of fungi - such as household mould, damp and dead leaves.

They are now testing a drug which could prevent sufferers having the sort of attacks that require hospital treatment. Previously, severe asthma attacks have been blamed on air pollutants like dust mites, pollen or animal hair.

But the scientists, based at Manchester's Wythenshawe Hospital, believe they have found a new culprit. Their research shows the condition can also be caused by tiny spores of common airborne fungi, which outnumber pollen grains by almost 1,000 to one and are invisible to the naked eye.

Although most people do not have a reaction, when severe asthmatics inhale the spores their airways are thought to narrow, making it harder for them to breathe.

Severe asthma in adults affects between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the UK's five million asthmatics, and skin tests indicated that up to 70 per cent of these sufferers were allergic to at least one type of airborne fungi.

The scientists are now starting a trial to test a drug, which could kill the fungus inhaled into the body and prevent attacks, on 100 asthmatics. The antibiotic would not provide a cure for all asthmatics because it is only severe strains of the condition that are triggered by fungi, but it could still save countless lives.