title: Assessment of microbiological air quality in hemato-oncology units and its relationship with the occurrence of invasive fungal infections: an integrative review.
abstract: Worldwide aging of the human population has promoted an increase in the incidence of neoplasia, including hematological cancers, which render patients particularly vulnerable to invasive fungal infections. For this reason, air filtration in hematooncology units has been recommended. However, scarce literature has assessed the impact of microbiological air quality on the occurrence of fungal infections in this population. We performed an integrative review of studies in the MEDLINE database that were published between January 1980 and October 2012, using the following combinations of keywords: air × quality × HEPA, air × quality × hematology, and airborne fungal infections. The search yielded only 13 articles, suggesting that high-efficiency filtering of the ambient air in hemato-oncology units can prevent the incidence of invasive fungal infections. However, no randomized clinical trial was found to confirm this suggestion. Currently, there is no consensus about the maximum allowable count of fungi in the air, which complicates filtration monitoring, including filter maintenance and replacement, and needs to be addressed in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Comissão de Controle de Infecção Hospitalar, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP.
authors.forename: Mayra Gonçalves
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Menegueti
authors.forename: Lécio Rodrigues
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Magda Fabbri Isaac
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Anderson Soares da
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bellissimo-Rodrigues
mesh_terms: D061808:Air Filters; D000391:Air Microbiology; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans