Q: My son aged 24 yrs is healthy and has no symptomatic problem except bronchial asthma. He has shadow in lungs. His ESR was 20 and no coughing, no fever, no loss of weight or any symptom. In ELISA test also no significant readings. Could be confirmed only by CT scan. How could he get it and in how much time can he be cured? What type of diet should he take and when can he join his new job which pending because of medical check ups.

A:Young adults with a history of bronchial asthma may develop chest x-ray shadows because of:
(1) fungus infection (usually Aspergillosis),
(2) vasculitis (example. Churg-Strauss syndrome),
(3) coincidental penumonia (viral, resulting in BOOP bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia),
(4) coincidental tuberculosis, or
(5) parasitic lung disease.
Sputum examination may lead to a diagnosis - or exclusion of problems such as active tuberculosis. HIV infection may also need to be considered and ruled out. If there is still uncertainty as to the cause of the abnormality on a radiologic study of the lungs, a biopsy may need to be performed. However, in a young person who is not a smoker and feels well, it may be reasonable to repeatedly do chest x-rays or CT scans for several months to determine whether the lesion will spontaneously resolve. Meanwhile, there would be no need to take any special diet or to take different medications, and one need not stay away from work provided that there are no significant symptoms and there is no evidence of a communicable disease, such as TB.