title: High diversity of airborne fungi in the hospital environment as revealed by meta-sequencing-based microbiome analysis.
abstract: Invasive fungal infections acquired in the hospital have progressively emerged as an important cause of life-threatening infection. In particular, airborne fungi in hospitals are considered critical pathogens of hospital-associated infections. To identify the causative airborne microorganisms, high-volume air samplers were utilized for collection, and species identification was performed using a culture-based method and DNA sequencing analysis with the Illumina MiSeq and HiSeq 2000 sequencing systems. Few bacteria were grown after cultivation in blood agar. However, using microbiome sequencing, the relative abundance of fungi, Archaea species, bacteria and viruses was determined. The distribution characteristics of fungi were investigated using heat map analysis of four departments, including the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit, Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Room and Outpatient Department. The prevalence of Aspergillus among fungi was the highest at the species level, approximately 17% to 61%, and the prevalence of Aspergillus fumigatus among Aspergillus species was from 34% to 50% in the four departments. Draft genomes of microorganisms isolated from the hospital environment were obtained by sequence analysis, indicating that investigation into the diversity of airborne fungi may provide reliable results for hospital infection control and surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xunliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Geriatrics, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lihui
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Infection Control and Management, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: National Clinical Research Centre for Respiratory Medicine, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuefeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, First Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zuotao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Geriatrics, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Infection Control and Management, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.|Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Respiratory, Beijing, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D000397:Air Pollution; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004865:Equipment and Supplies, Hospital / Q000382:microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006761:Hospitals; D000072761:Mycobiome