Author(s)

Otávio Vilela de Figueiredo¹, Luiz Francisley de Paiva², Matheus Valejo Peixoto¹, Pedro Guilherme Paula Bariani¹, Thiago Silva Pinto¹, Manoel Araujo Teixeira³, Ana Beatriz Alkmim Teixeira-Loyola⁴

¹School of Medicine, University of the Sapucai Valley, Pouso Alegr, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
²Research Laboratory, University of the Sapucai Valley, Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
³Department of Biology, University of the Sapucai Valley, Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
⁴Department of Microbiology, University of the Sapucai Valley, Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to isolate and identify potentially pathogenic airborne fungi from Hospital das Clínicas Samuel Libanio in the city of Pouso Alegre-MG and evaluate their susceptibility to natural and industrial products. Methods: The air collection was performed by passive sedimentation in the morning during the autumn and winter seasons. Petri dishes were open as the location of air conditioning. The isolates were subjected to pathogenicity test. The identification of the fungi was performed according to the macroscopic evaluation and micromorphology. Potentially pathogenic isolates were susceptibility tested by disc diffusion method. The agents used were insecticides and industrial cleaning products and essential oils of citronella plants, lemon grass, eucalyptus and Melaleuca extracted by steam distillation method. Results: We obtained a total of 356 fungal isolates. The inside door environments were 126 (35.39%) and the outside environments were 230 (64.6%) isolates. The 22 (6.18%) isolates from the inside and 25 (6.18%) outside the hospital showed pathogenic potential. This isolates were identified as Acremonium spp., A. niger, A. terreus, A. versicolor, Curvularia sp., Penicillium sp. and Scopulariopsis sp. Susceptibility testing it was observed that most of the isolates were susceptible to the principle product containing sodium hypochlorite. Citronella oil showed enormous potential inhibition against all isolates. Already lemon grass oil was effective only against isolates of Penicillium spp. Conclusions: All genres identified are significant allergens, which can cause respiratory disease in both immunocompromised individuals such as asthmatics and people with any immune deficit. The monitoring of environmental sources should be performed, especially in special areas with immunocompromised patients. Despite efforts to try to reduce fungal infections hospital there are still flaws in the strategies employed.

Fungi, Air Conditioning, Housekeeping Hospital, Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests

Figueiredo, O. , Paiva, L. , Peixoto, M. , Bariani, P. , Pinto, T. , Teixeira, M. and Teixeira-Loyola, A. (2018) Antifungal Susceptibility Profile In Vitro Fungal Air in a Hospital Environment. Open Journal of Medical Microbiology, 8, 35-46. doi: 10.4236/ojmm.2018.83004.