Surveillance of environmental fungi, with focus on Aspergillus, in a Portuguese Central Hospital

Ref ID: 19396

Author:

R. Sabino,1 C. Viegas,2 E. Carolino,2 C. Martins,3
C. M. Ver 305;ssimo,1 C. V. Clemons4 and D. A. Stevens4

Author address:

1Nacional Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Portugal; 2Lisbon
School of Health Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon,
Portugal; 3North Lisbon Hospital Centre, Epe, Lisbon, Portugal
and 4California Inst Med Research/Sta Clara Valley Med

Full conference title:

6th Trends in Medical Mycology 2013

Date: 11 October 2014

Abstract:

Objectives Because immunocompromised patients are more prone to
acquire nosocomial infections caused by fungi isolated from the envi-
ronment, e.g. Aspergillus, this study aimed to screen the hospital
environment for the presence of fungi and to understand their epide-
miology in the different hospital wards analyzed.
Methods During one-year period, four seasonal samplings, i.e., air
and hard surface, were performed. A total of 101 air samples and 99
surface samples were collected from the Hematology, Oncology, and
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) wards of a Portuguese Central Hospital.
Aspergillus isolates were plated for growth as single colonies on malt
extract agar with chloramphenicol to check the colony purity and
observe colonial morphology. The universal fungal primers ITS1 and
ITS4 were used to amplify DNA from all Aspergillus isolates, amplimers
were sequenced, and isolates identified to the species-complex level.
Statistical analyses were done using SPSS v15.0 program for Windows.
Results Aspergillus was the most frequently recovered fungal genus
(20.9%), followed by Cladosporium (18.7%), and Penicillium (17.2%).
Thirty-five Aspergillus isolates were collected from the wards with
hematological patients (bone marrow transplant and hemato-oncol-
ogy wards), whereas 15 isolates were recovered from ICU. Among
Aspergillus isolates from the hospital environment, those belonging to
the species-complexes of versicolores (n = 26; 32.5%), nigri (n = 12; 15.0%), flavi (n = 11; 13.7%), and circumdati (n = 6; 7.5%) domi-
nated. Hemato-Oncology was the ward with higher fungal counts,
whereas the bone marrow transplant ward, which is protected by
HEPA-filtration of the supply air, showed the lowest numbers in all
sampling periods. A significant association (p = 0.001) was found
between the season and the Aspergillus complexes isolated, with
spring and summer having a larger number of different species-com-
plexes detected in the hospital s air and on the surfaces. Nevertheless,
air counts showed that the autumn was the season with the highest
proportion of Aspergillus (one third of the total number of fungi
detected). This could be due in part to the presence of construction
work near these wards.
Conclusion The knowledge of the epidemiology of environmental
fungi in each hospital may allow the establishment of preventive or
corrective measures to decrease nosocomial fungal infections.

Abstract Number: p107

Conference Year: 2013

Link to conference website: NULL

New link: NULL

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