Airborne fungi isolated from Fortaleza city, State of Ceará, Brazil.
Airbone fungi are considered important causes of allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma. The knowledge of these fungi in a city or region is important for the ecological diagnosis and specific treatment of allergic manifestations induced by inhalation of fungal allergens. The airborne fungi of Fortaleza, State of Ceará, Brazil, were studied during a one year period. Five hundred and twenty Petri dishes with Sabouraud dextrose agar medium were exposed at ten different locations in the city. The dishes exposed yielded one thousand and five hundred and twenty one colonies of twenty four genera. The most predominants were: Aspergillus (44.7%), Penicillium (13.3%), Curvularia (9.8%), Cladosporium (6.8%), Mycelia sterilia (6.0%), Fusarium (3.5%), Rhizopus (3.1%), Drechslera (2.6%), Alternaria (2.4%) and Absidia (2.2%). The results shown that Aspergillus, Penicillium, Mycelia sterilia, Fusarium and Alternaria were found during all months in the year. Absidia was more frequent during the dry season. Anemophilous fungi and the high concentration of spores in the air are important because may result in an increased number of people with allergic respiratory disease.
Departamento de Análises Clinicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. menezes@ufc.br
Everardo Albuquerque
EA
Menezes
Emerson C Pereira
EC
Trindade
Maria Márcia
MM
Costa
Caio César Furtado
CC
Freire
Márcio de Souza
Mde S
Cavalcante
Francisco Afrânio
FA
Cunha
D000391:Air Microbiology; D001938:Brazil; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D003904:Mitosporic Fungi / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012130:Respiratory Hypersensitivity / Q000382:microbiology; D012621:Seasons