Indoor airborne mycobiota of intensive care units in Assiut University Hospitals.

Abstract

Contamination of the air by fungi in the intensive care units (ICU) in Assiut university hospitals was investigated. Air samples were collected using settle plate method using four types of media with Rose Bengal-Streptomycin Agar. The mycobiota was isolated and identified. Cladosporium spp., Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Fusarium were recorded most prevalent genera, whereas; Alternaria and Scopulariopsis were found to be with moderate frequency level. Botryotricum, Circinella, Drechslera, Epicoccum, Ulocladium, and others were recorded as the least fungal contaminants. The Aspergillus genus showed the greatest spectrum by being represented by 17 species followed by Penicillium (five species) .Each of Cladosporium, Fusarium and Scopulariopsis was represented by two species while the remaining 18 genera were represented by only one species for each genus. The gross total fungal counts of air born fungi recovered were 1009, 858, 1236 and 1366 cfu/72 plates on the four types of media used (24 exposures, 5 minutes for each exposure). These data revealed that patients of I.C.U. in Assiut university hospitals may be in high risk due to being exposed to atmospheric air highly contaminated by those opportunistic fungal genera that may be deadly to immuno-comprmised individuals who must remain away from any airborne fungal contaminants.