@article{a7ac9d3fcc1748a5bf15178ae14cf13a,
title = "Prevalence of Aspergillus fumigatus skin positivity in adults without an apparent/known atopic disease in Uganda",
abstract = "Background: Skin prick testing (SPT) is an important investigation in the evaluation of allergy to fungal pathogens. However, the background sensitivity to fungal allergens among healthy people in Uganda is unknown. Our aim was to assess the background prevalence of Aspergillus fumigatus SPT positivity in apparently healthy adults without known atopic disease in Uganda.Methods: For this pilot study, we recruited 50 healthy volunteers using convenience sampling, 56% of whom were health workers. We performed the SPT for A. fumigatus according to manufacturer's instructions. A wheal diameter of ⩾3 mm was considered positive.Results: The prevalence of A. fumigatus skin positivity was 60% (30/50). Participants with a positive A. fumigatus SPT were significantly younger than those with a negative result [median age (years): 28 versus 35; p = 0.005].Conclusion: There is a high skin positivity against A. fumigatus among non-atopic healthy Ugandan adults. There is an urgent need to establish a normal wheal cut-off value for this population. SPT alone may be an unreliable test for the diagnosis of A. fumigatus associated allergic syndromes. More studies are needed to define the prevalence of A. fumigatus skin positivity among non-atopic healthy population in Africa.",
keywords = "Aspergillus sensitisation, Uganda, atopy, fungal allergy, skin prick testing",
author = "Richard Kwizera and Felix Bongomin and Ronald Olum and William Worodria and Freddie Bwanga and Meya, {David B} and Kirenga, {Bruce J} and Robin Gore and Fowler, {Stephen J} and Denning, {David W}",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to acknowledge all our participants. We thank the IDI research department for providing the PhD student with office space, internet access, printing services, research peer support, health insurance, and salary support during the period of study. David Denning and Stephen Fowler receive funding from the Manchester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported through the DELTAS Africa Initiative grant # DEL-15-011 to THRiVE-2. The DELTAS Africa Initiative is an independent funding scheme of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS)?s Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) and supported by the New Partnership for Africa?s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) with funding from the Wellcome Trust grant # 107742/Z/15/Z and the UK government. ASAP [ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03065920] under the Makerere University Lung Institute provided SPT testing kits to the student. ASAP was funded by the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) African Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Open Lab (Project number: 8019) to Bruce Kirenga. Funders had no role in data collection, analysis, or decision to publish. Authors retained control of the final content of the publication. Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported through the DELTAS Africa Initiative grant # DEL-15-011 to THRiVE-2. The DELTAS Africa Initiative is an independent funding scheme of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS){\textquoteright}s Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) and supported by the New Partnership for Africa{\textquoteright}s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) with funding from the Wellcome Trust grant # 107742/Z/15/Z and the UK government. ASAP [ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03065920] under the Makerere University Lung Institute provided SPT testing kits to the student. ASAP was funded by the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) African Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Open Lab (Project number: 8019) to Bruce Kirenga. Funders had no role in data collection, analysis, or decision to publish. Authors retained control of the final content of the publication. Funding Information: We would like to acknowledge all our participants. We thank the IDI research department for providing the PhD student with office space, internet access, printing services, research peer support, health insurance, and salary support during the period of study. David Denning and Stephen Fowler receive funding from the Manchester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), 2021.",
year = "2021",
month = aug,
day = "24",
doi = "10.1177/20499361211039040",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
journal = "Therapeutic advances in infectious disease",
issn = "2049-9361",
publisher = "Sage Publications Ltd",
}