Isolation of clinically relevant fungal species from solid waste and environment of dental health services.

C D Vieira, M A R de Carvalho, M A de Resende, N A de Menezes Cussiol, M E Alvarez-Leite, S G dos Santos, M B de Oliveira, T F F de Magalhães, M X Silva, J R Nicoli, L de Macêdo Farias

Departamento de Microbiologia - ICB/UFMG, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Letters in applied microbiology 2010 Oct

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This study was undertaken to detect, identify and determine antifungal susceptibility of yeast strains isolated from dental solid waste and to evaluate airborne fungi in the Brazilian dental health care environment and in the waste storage room. A group of 17 yeast strains were identified by macroscopic and microscopic characteristics, API 20C Aux system and Multiplex PCR. All 104 airborne fungal colonies were identified by macroscopic and microscopic morphology. The CLSI broth microdilution method was utilized as the susceptibility test. Candida parapsilosis was the prevailing yeast species recovered from waste, followed by Rhodotorula glutinis. Three strains of Candida guilliermondii presented minimal inhibitory concentration values considered to be susceptible dose dependent (2 μg ml(-1)) to voriconazole. Of all airborne fungal species, 69% were recovered from the waste storage room and 31% were recovered from the clinical/surgical environment. Most of them were identified as Cladosporium spp. These findings reinforce the potential risk of waste handling and point out the need for safe management to minimize the spread of these agents to the environment. Filamentous fungi isolation in almost all sampled environments indicates that a periodic monitoring of airborne microbiota in the dental health care service environment is required. The survival of yeast strains for 48 h suggests that dental waste should be carefully controlled and monitored. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Citation

C D Vieira, M A R de Carvalho, M A de Resende, N A de Menezes Cussiol, M E Alvarez-Leite, S G dos Santos, M B de Oliveira, T F F de Magalhães, M X Silva, J R Nicoli, L de Macêdo Farias. Isolation of clinically relevant fungal species from solid waste and environment of dental health services. Letters in applied microbiology. 2010 Oct;51(4):370-6