Evaluation of Fungal air contamination in Wards and Operating rooms of Montaserie Organ Transplant Hospital, Mashhad

Hospital environments have different types of microorganisms. The release of airborne fungi in hospitals is health risk factor for nosocomial infections in hospitalized patients. The object of this study was to assess the kinds and concentration of fungal contamination in the hospital wards and operating theaters.
In the present study, 96 of indoor air samples were collected from hemodialysis sections of women and men, kidney transplant, liver transplant, ICU and three operating rooms of organ transplantation Hospital in city of Mashhad. The sampling was taken according to the NIOSH standard instructions and Anderson procedure with a flow rate of 12 L per 2 minutes and the concentration of fungal contamination was determined in term of CFU/M3. The identification of fungal agents was examined by the mycological microscopic and macroscopic procedure.
The genera Aspergillus (98.29%) and Penicillium (25%) were the most fungal agents of air contamination in wards and operating rooms.The fungal contamination in the ICU, dialysis of men and women, kidney transplantation and liver transplantation were 3.8%, 3.58%, 3.33%, 7.16% and 33.3%, respectively.
In this study, the fungal contamination of wards and operating rooms was relatively low. However, due to the high sensitivity of the transplant recipients and immunocompromised patients to nosocomial fungal infections, the periodic surveys of the hospitals are essential.