A new study from the U.K. has described drug-resistant lung infections in vulnerable people, raising concern that treatment options may be increasingly limited.

The research led by scientists at Imperial College London and published in Nature Microbiology found six cases of people infected with the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, which they then traced back to spores in the environment. In healthy people, these spores rarely cause infections if inhaled. But in immunocompromised people or those with some lung conditions, they can stay in the lungs causing an infection called aspergillosis.

“More and more people might be susceptible to Aspergillus fumigatus infection because of growing numbers of people receiving stem cell or solid organ transplants, being on immunosuppressive therapy, or having lung conditions or severe viral respiratory infections,” said Professor Matthew Fisher, senior author of the work from Imperial College’s School of Public Health. “The prevalence of drug-resistant aspergillosis has grown from negligible levels before 1999 to up to 3-40% of cases now across Europe,” Fisher added.

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