title: Hospital environment and invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematologic malignancy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To determine whether there is a correlation between sources of Aspergillus spores in a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered environment and nosocomial invasive aspergillosis (IA), we performed a detailed environmental assessment and case review.
  
  
  METHODS
  From April to October 2004, 626 bioaerosol samples, 1,257 surface samples, and 607 water samples were obtained from 74 HEPA-filtered air hospital rooms occupied by 458 patients with hematologic malignancies. Samples were collected prospectively from the room before and after cleaning within 1 hour of patient admission or discharge. Aspergillus spp was isolated from 21 surface samples and 46 bioaerosol samples. Interestingly, Aspergillus spp was not isolated from any water samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aspergillus spp was isolated from 21 surface samples and 46 bioaerosol samples. Interestingly, Aspergillus spp were not isolated from any water samples. The majority (90%) of the positive bioaerosol samples had ≤ 10 colony-forming units of Aspergillus/m3 of air. Only 2 patients developed nosocomial IA. No correlations were found between Aspergillus species isolated from the hospital rooms and those causing IA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The risk of hematologic malignancy patients acquiring nosocomial aspergillosis from water or HEPA-filtered air is very low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Administrative Facilities and Campus Operations, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Linda D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ray Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Hachem
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berkheiser
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hackett
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Issam I
authors.initials: II
authors.lastname: Raad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000391:Air Microbiology; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055815:Young Adult