Melody malady: Clarinet player develops 'saxophone lung' from fungus

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/emb-12-01-am-et-friday-melody-malady-clarinet-player-8C11557602

JoNel Aleccia NBC News
Nov. 8, 2013

A Dixieland band player who didn’t clean his clarinet for 30 years is recovering from a year-long allergic reaction caused by fungus that grew inside the reed instrument, experts said.

The 68-year-old unidentified Atlanta man came down with an intractable case of “saxophone lung,” an actual condition familiar to germ experts — and to persnickety musicians.

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Saxophone lung is a rare type of hypersensitivity pneumonia, in which patients develop allergic pulmonary disease when they’re exposed to fungi that invade instruments — and are never removed. Basically, the musicians have allergic reactions to the mold that won’t let up, Shams said.

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