title: Evolution of the environmental contamination by thermophilic fungi in a turkey confinement house in France.
abstract: Fungal species constitute a major part of environmental contaminants in facilities where animals are housed. The present investigation was aimed at describing the relative abundances of fungal species and their concentrations in a turkey confinement house in France. Fungal cultures from poultry feed, litter, and air were undertaken every week throughout the 16-wk period of breeding. The incubation temperature of 40 degrees C was selected to isolate thermophilic fungal species (especially Aspergillus spp. and Candida albicans) that are potentially pathogenic for birds. The 2 species Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus were recovered at a mean of 10.5 and 37.0 cfu/m(3) of air sampled, respectively. Individual samplings yielded concentrations of up to 150.0 cfu/m(3) for A. flavus in the first weeks of the investigation. Other fungal species were recovered at a mean of 18.9 cfu/m(3) (maximum 36.3 cfu/m(3)) in the air. The yeast C. albicans was first detected at wk 4 from litter samples and at wk 7 from poultry feed. Densities of C. albicans remained very high in litter samples (63.2 cfu/g) even after new litter was added at wk 10. To analyze the genetic polymorphism of A. fumigatus, the most pathogenic mold in birds, a total number of 198 isolates (134 from air, 34 from litter, and 30 from feed samples) were genotyped using 2 polymorphic microsatellite markers. More than half (42 out of 73, 57.5%) of the genotypes were detected only once. This finding suggests that the contamination of the breeding environment is not due to a single source and confirms the very high genetic diversity of environmental A. fumigatus isolates. As during the study period, no outbreak of fungal infections occurred; the levels of fungal contaminations reported here do not seem sufficient, at least alone, to trigger fungal infections.
authors.affiliation: INRA, AFSSA, ENVA, UPVM, UMR 956 Biologie Moléculaire et Immunologie Parasitaires et Fongiques, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Fulleringer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seguin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Warin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bezille
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Desterque
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arné
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chermette
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bretagne
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guillot
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D000818:Animals; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000662:veterinary; D002175:Candida / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000662:veterinary; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005602:France; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006799:Housing, Animal / Q000592:standards*; D010802:Phylogeny; D014422:Turkeys