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What is Lycoperdonosis and explain in detail?
Lycoperdonosis is a respiratory disease caused by the inhalation of large amounts of spores from mature puffballs. It is classified as a hypersensitivity pneumonitis (also called extrinsic allergic alveolitis)—an inflammation of the alveoli within the lung caused by hypersensitivity to inhaled natural dusts. It is one of several types of hypersensitivity pneumonitis caused by different agents that have similar clinical features. Typical progression of the disease includes symptoms of a cold hours after spore inhalation, followed by nausea, rapid pulse, crepitant rales (a sound like that made by rubbing hairs between the fingers, heard at the end of inhalation), and dyspnea. Chest radiographs reveal the presence of lung nodules. The early symptoms presented in combination with pulmonary abnormalities apparent on chest radiographs may lead to misdiagnosis of the disease as tuberculosis, histiocytosis, or pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis carinii. Lycoperdonosis is generally treated with corticosteroids, which decrease the inflammatory response; these are sometimes given in conjunction with antimicrobials.The disease was first described in the medical literature in 1967 by R.D. Strand and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 1976, a 4-year-old was reported developing the disease in Norway after purposely inhaling a large quantity of Lycoperdon spores to stop a nosebleed. Lycoperdon species are sometimes used in folk medicine in the belief that their spores have haemostatic properties