Preliminary Study of the Fungal Ecology at the Haematology and Medical-Oncology Ward in Bamako, Mali

Abstract

Data on fungal epidemiology in sub-Saharan African countries are scarce. This exploratory study aimed to characterize the fungal flora at the Onco-Haematology ward of the National Teaching Hospital of Point G in Bamako, Mali. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the dry and in the rainy seasons. Nasal swab and sputum samples were collected from the hospitalized patients while airborne fungal spores were collected using electrostatic dust-fall collectors. Fungi were identified by their morphological characteristics and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Candida albicans was the most frequent yeast species colonizing patients; Aspergillus species were isolated in 86 % of the patients and were the main airborne environmental contaminants. Overall, airborne fungal contamination rates increased from 33.8 % in the dry to 66.2 % in the rainy season (p < 0.001). The most frequent Aspergillus species were Aspergillus niger (36.6 %) and Aspergillus flavus (32.92 %). In contrast, Aspergillus fumigatus (5.43 %) was relatively rare. This high level of fungal exposure raises concern regarding the management of at-risk patients in this Onco-Haematology ward and stresses the need for strengthening the mycological diagnostic capacities to accompany the implementation of adapted fungal infection prevention and management policies.

Environmental Health Research in Africa: Important Progress and Promising Opportunities

“…Indoor mold was primarily measured as fungal spores present in airborne samples and measured in nasal swabs and sputum samples (Niare-Doumbo et al, 2014;Diongue et al, 2015) (Table 2).…”

“…At risk-populations that were examined included pediatric wards with leukemia patients and other immunocompromised or allergic patients, oncology wards, and ophthalmology operating rooms (Gharamah et al, 2012;Niare-Doumbo et al, 2014;Gheith et al, 2015). Occupational exposure to aflatoxin was found in textile workers and was associated with liver tumor biomarkers (Saad-Hussein et al, 2013).…”

CouldHistoplasma capsulatumBe Related to Healthcare-Associated Infections?

“…Under this statement, the dispersion of H. capsulatum infective propagules could represent a potential risk factor for hospital-acquired histoplasmosis, especially in individuals hospitalized in units lacking adequate air quality control. H. capsulatum has never been identified in air quality studies from hospital settings [ 152 ]. This could be explained by the difficulties in this fungus' isolation, including prolonged culture growth in laboratory conditions, special nutritional needs, and culture inhibition by the presence of other fast-growing fungi [ 64 , 68 ].…”