Environmental risk of mycosis in patients treated at an acquired immunodeficiency ward.

PURPOSE: Patients with acquired immunodeficiency are particularly predisposed to fungal infections. The purpose of the study was evaluation of the presence of fungi in the environment of a ward where Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients were treated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The evaluation of fungal presence in the indoor air and on the room walls at an acquired immunodeficiency ward in the University Hospital in Cracow was carried out in December 2006. Indoor air specimens were sampled using an aspiration method (a MAS 100 device) while imprints from the walls using Cont-Tact method (bioMèrieux) in the morning ad in the evening during five consecutive days. A total of sixty air specimens and thirty imprints from the walls were obtained. The fungi cultured from those specimens were analysed using standard mycological procedures.

RESULTS: It was found out that the numbers of fungi sampled from the indoor air in the morning were significantly higher than those sampled in the evening. The average numbers of fungi isolated in the rooms inhabited by the patients varied from 55 c.f.u (colony forming units) x m(-3) to 490 c.f.u x m(-3) as calculated for the entire testing period. Fungi potentially pathogenic for persons with impaired immunity were found in all of the rooms: Aspergillus sp., Mucor sp., and yeast-like fungi Candida sp.

CONCLUSION: Reduction of the numbers of potentially pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi in the indoor air should be a standard in the practice of medical staff (mainly epidemiological nurses).