The mechanisms underlying the development
of allergic and non-allergic pathologies induced or
exacerbated by fungi have been mostly explored for thermophilic
species, rarely for mesophilic species. The goal of this
review is to examine current knowledge of the early events of
host responses which impact on the resistance (restricting fungal
burden) or tolerance (limiting collateral damages caused by
the immune response) to fungi and to illustrate to which airway
pathologies the disruption of host-fungus relationship may lead.