Domestic mould exposure and invasive aspergillosis—air sampling ofAspergillusspp. spores in homes of hematological patients, a pilot study

Abstract

In this controlled prospective study, fungal spores were collected from homes of neutropenic patients. Cases were defined as patients with probable or proven controls as patients with no invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, while patients with possible disease were evaluated as a third group. Forty patients were enrolled and returned questionnaires on high-risk activities and mould exposure. A. fumigatus was detected in concentrations of 0 to 76 cfu/m(3) in every home. A. terreus was detected in nine (18%) homes. Mean Aspergillus spp. cfu/m(3) according to EORTC criteria were: proven/probable IA (15 patients) - 36; possible IA (12 patients) - 42; no IA (13 patients) - 42. Of the seven patients with self-reported moulded walls at home, four had probable and three had possible aspergillosis; the risk ratio of developing IA was 1.65 (95% CI: 1.25-2.17). In conclusion self-reported domestic mould exposure was associated with a high incidence of IA and may be a feasible tool for identifying high-risk patients. There was no correlation between domestic ambient-air spore counts and IA.

Aflatoxin production and in vitro toxicity of Aspergilli section Flavi isolated from air samples collected from different environments

“…Maximum values of statistically estimated concentrations of Aspergilli section Flavi obtained in July (1.9 × 10 5 cfu/m 3 ) and (1.3 × 10 6 cfu/m 3 ) were 10-100-fold higher than concentrations of airborne fungi (> 10 4 cfu/m 3 ) considered as a health hazard in non-sensitized subjects (Oppliger et al 2005). Contrary to the GM, Aspergilli section Flavi were rarely present or were in low concentrations (maximum 20 cfu/m 3 ) in urban apartments and basements (AP and BS) and outdoors which is in agreement with recently conducted studies in homes of low-income areas in Syracuse (NY, USA) as well as in homes of hematologic patients in Germany (Crawford et al 2015;Schweer et al 2016). In most periods, these Aspergilli comprised between 0.1 and 0.2% of total viable airborne fungi recovered from AP, BS, and ODA.…”

Epidemiology and Antifungal Susceptibility Profile of Aspergillus Species: Comparison between Environmental and Clinical Isolates from Patients with Hematologic Malignancies

“…Air sampling with a KAS-110 air sampler (Kemic Corp., Seongnam, South Korea; Ministry of Environment approval number IASM-2012-2) with a collection velocity of 16 liters/min was used for 15 min three times, with 20-min intervals to factor in air circulation. Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) plates were used as the impactor substrates and incubated at 35°C for 4 to 5 days (17). Fungal CFU were counted, and spots of airborne fungi were subcultured in a new SDA plate.…”

Targeting the Aspergillus flavus p2c gene through host-induced gene silencing reduces A. flavus infection and aflatoxin contamination in transgenic maize

“…Part of the reason for these high levels of aflatoxin in the inoculated samples was due to the extremely high concentration of inoculum used in the study (4x10 6 to 1x10 5 conidia/mL). We believe the aflatoxin levels in these transgenic lines under natural infection will be much lower since the conidia concentration of A. flavus in the air under natural infection conditions is likely to be a million times less than the inoculum used in the present study (Schweer et al, 2016). In addition, only the four kernels surrounding the inoculation sites were collected and analyzed in all of our field studies except the F1 crosses and T3 kernels from P2c7 and P2c17 produced in 2018, in which half of the inoculated ears was ground and subsamples were used.…”