Submitted by GAtherton on 5 September 2019
“Aspergillus and me” is a song written by Alessandro Pasqualotto, a medical mycologist from Brazil, and two transplant patients, Jimi Joe (kidney), and King Jim (liver).
The initiative started when King was hospitalized due to a chronic cough. King is known for being asthmatic and he has some mild bronchiectasis, in addition to being a liver transplant recipient. A bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was recovered in culture, in addition to Aspergillus fumigatus (galactomannan testing was not performed). At that time, Alessandro Pasqualotto visited King in the hospital primarily as a fan, not as a physician. After collecting several autographs in vinyl albums from the 80’s (King was part of the famous rock band Garotos da Rua), Pasqualotto and King started a discussion on the relevance of A. fumigatus in his BAL exam. Despite being treated with voriconazole by order of the medical team in charge, Pasqualotto thought the musician was only colonized by the fungus. The dilemma surrounding the relevance of Aspergillus in this context motivated both Pasqualotto and King to write a song about that.
After being discharged from the hospital, King collected a group of experienced musicians to record Pasqualotto’s song. This included Jimi Joe, a kidney transplant recipient who together with King formed the band “Los Tresplantados”, a group of three transplant musicians that approaches the importance of organ donation, as well as opportunistic infections. Los Tresplantados, however, have never written a song about fungal infections, so this was a great opportunity to increase people’s awareness of such important diseases.
So this is what “Aspergillus and me” are all about. Alternatively, musicians also refer to this song as “When Black Sabbath meets Neil Young”. We hope you enjoy the song!
Contacts: Alessandro C. Pasqualotto (acpasqualotto@gmail.com)
WhatsUp number: +55 51 999951614
You tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ar1na385zQ
Interview link (Portuguese only): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyywH0LtS50
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