ASPERGILLUS MONITORING PROJECT IN A LARGE EDUCATIONAL HOSPITAL USING MOLECULAR

Abstract

Our main object was to use a rapid and cheap molecular method for monitoring of Aspergillus infections and epidemiological approaches. Different molecular methods such as restriction fragment length polymorphism based on amplification of ribosomal RNA have been employed to identify Aspergilli in the level of species. The subject of our study was a group of hospitalized patients with clinical and subclinical signs of infection. All of the collected clinical specimens were transported to the medical mycology lab and examined for Aspergillus identification. Environmental specimens were collected from air and surfaces inspected for the Aspergillus hospital sources. A morphological study was firstly performed including; growth characteristics and microscopic features of Aspergillus species on mycological media for the identification. For the confirmation of Aspergillus isolates which similarly found in clinical and environmental sources, molecular method polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism was carried out. From the mentioned specimens, 110 fungal isolates included Candida spp., Aspergillus spp. and other fungi. Among the clinical isolates of Aspergilli; Aspergillus flavus (47%), Aspergillus fumigatus (29.4%) and Aspergillus niger (23.6%) were the most frequent species respectively, and also environmental Aspergillus isolates were Aspergillus niger (43.7%), Aspergillus flavus (41.8%), Aspergillus fumigatus (14.7%). Because of facility in use, speed and high sensitivity of diagnosis, the polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism with a single restriction enzyme was very useful in identification of medically important Aspergillus spp.