A prospective survey of air and surface fungal contamination in a medical mycology laboratory at a tertiary care university hospital.
BACKGROUND
Invasive filamentous fungi infections resulting from inhalation of mold conidia pose a major threat in immunocompromised patients. The diagnosis is based on direct smears, cultural symptoms, and culturing fungi. Airborne conidia present in the laboratory environment may cause contamination of cultures, resulting in false-positive diagnosis. Baseline values of fungal contamination in a clinical mycology laboratory have not been determined to date.


METHODS
A 1-year prospective survey of air and surface contamination was conducted in a clinical mycology laboratory during a period when large construction projects were being conducted in the hospital. Air was sampled with a portable air system impactor, and surfaces were sampled with contact Sabouraud agar plates. The collected data allowed the elaboration of Shewhart graphic charts.


RESULTS
Mean fungal loads ranged from 2.27 to 4.36 colony forming units (cfu)/m(3) in air and from 0.61 to 1.69 cfu/plate on surfaces.


CONCLUSIONS
Strict control procedures may limit the level of fungal contamination in a clinical mycology laboratory even in the context of large construction projects at the hospital site. Our data and the resulting Shewhart graphic charts provide baseline values to use when monitoring for inappropriate variations of the fungal contamination in a mycology laboratory as part of a quality assurance program. This is critical to the appropriate management of the fungal risk in hematology, cancer and transplantation patients.
Sautour
Marc
M
Parasitology-Mycology Laboratory, IFR Santé-STIC, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Bourgogne, Dijon, France. msautour@u-bourgogne.fr
Dalle
Frédéric
F
Olivieri
Claire
C
L'ollivier
Coralie
C
Enderlin
Emilie
E
Salome
Elsa
E
Chovelon
Isabelle
I
Vagner
Odile
O
Sixt
Nathalie
N
Fricker-Pap
Véronique
V
Aho
Serge
S
Fontaneau
Olivier
O
Cachia
Claire
C
Bonnin
Alain
A
D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D009172:Mycology; D011446:Prospective Studies