title: [Study of ocular fungal microbiota in patients with Hansen's disease and in individuals who deal with them].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the conjunctival fungal flora of patients with leprosy who live in the colony hospital and of those who deal with "Hansen" patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-one eyes (61 patients) with Hansen's disease and twenty-five healthy eyes (25 individuals) of individuals who deal with patients were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Conjunctival fungi growth occurred in 19.67% and 20% of the patients and healthy individuals, respectively. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) regarding fungi percentage of fungi isolated from the conjunctiva between both groups. Candida ssp was the most frequent fungus isolated from the conjunctiva of patients with Hansen's disease, whereas Penicillium spp was the most frequent fungus isolated from the group of people who deal with these patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most frequent yeast isolated from conjunctival samples of leprosy patients was Candida, which could be explained by cellular immunodeficiency of these patients, associated with dry eye and the prolonged use of antibiotics.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina do Distrito Federal, Brasília, DF, Brazil. procopiomig@brturbo.com.br
authors.forename: Procópio Miguel dos
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Cinthia Mendonça de
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Suy Anne Rebouças
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Adriano de Almeida
authors.initials: Ade A
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.forename: Débora Silva Pires de
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Sá
authors.forename: Regina Cândido Ribeiro dos
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000362:Agar; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002175:Candida / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017028:Caregivers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000382:microbiology*; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010407:Penicillium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D000362:Agar