Concentrations of airborne Aspergillus compared to the incidence of invasive aspergillosis: lack of correlation.
Air sampling of the rooms and corridors of the oncology wards of the hospital was carried out over a 54-week period to assess the concentration of viable Aspergillus conidia. A. fumigatus and A. flavus were recovered at a mean of 1.83 cfu m-3 air sampled. Individual samplings yielded concentrations of up to 11.6 cfu m-3. Other Aspergillus spp. were recovered at a mean of 2.38 cfu m-3 (maximum 32.6 cfu m-3). Concentration was not correlated with season or hospital ward. Review of autopsy results showed an average of 6.6 cases of aspergillosis annually over a 22-year period. No seasonal variation in case incidence was found. Six cases of invasive aspergillosis were diagnosed on the three cancer wards during the air-sampling period, but no association was seen linking these cases with changes in recovery of airborne Aspergillus. A seasonal pattern was not observed in the overall incidence of aspergillosis cases nor concentrations of airborne conidia.
Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. dhospenthal@atlas.niaid.nih.gov
D R
DR
Hospenthal
K J
KJ
Kwon-Chung
J E
JE
Bennett
D000391:Air Microbiology; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001231:Aspergillus flavus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001344:Autopsy; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D010362:Patients' Rooms; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States