fumigatus is composed of a unique β-1,3/1,4-glucan skeleton with chitin and galactomannan covalently linked to the nonreducing ends of β-1,3-glucan. The cell wall is mainly coated with GPI proteins, which contain N- and O-glycans (4). A. fumigatus is non-motile as mentioned above because like all fungi, they develop from spores and do not display flagella, cilia, or chloroplasts. It does not have a specific mechanism for releasing its conidia into the air and its spread simply relies on disturbances of the environment and strong air currents. Once the conidia are in the air, their small size makes them buoyant and allows them to stay airborne both indoors and outdoors. The ability to grow at elevated temperatures and to consume frequent varied sources of both carbon and nitrogen to support its growth has made A. fumigatus an chief opportunistic pathogen of humans as well as a vital part of the nutrient-recycling ecosystem (5). They are chemoheterotrophic and facultative anaerobic organisms that live in soil or in water and use exoenzymes to decompose mostly dead plant material, which they then absorb. Simply fungi, such as A.fumigatus, live in their food and digest the food that surrounds their "bodies" while animals like us engulf their food. The remarkable ability of A. fumigatus to grow efficiently under a variety of environmental conditions and to utilize a wide variety of things to meet its nutritional needs adds to its role as a major mold pathogen in immunocompromised patients (6).
In order to get infected by Aspergillus fumigatus you most likely have to inhale the spores. These spores are found everywhere and most people breathe these spores into their bodies almost every day and under normal circumstances our bodies our quick to combat the fungus. However an individual with a weakened immune status may be susceptible to an infection. In susceptible patient populations, the mucosal defenses of the lung are compromised, leading to fungal colonization and growth.
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