Frequency of fungi in respiratory samples from Turkish cystic fibrosis patients

Abstract

An increased isolation of fungi from the respiratory tract of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) has been reported. The prevalence of different fungi in CF patients from Turkey is not known. Our aim was to determine the frequency of fungi in the respiratory tract of Turkish CF patients. We investigated a total of 184 samples from 48 patients. Samples were inoculated on Medium B+ and CHROMagar Candida. Candida albicans was the predominant yeast isolated [30 patients (62.5%)], followed by C. parapsilosis [6 (12.5%)] and C. dubliniensis 5 (10.4%). Aspergillus fumigatus was the most common filamentous fungus [5 (10.4%)] and non-fumigatus Aspergillus species were isolated from four (8.3%) patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently detected bacterium in C. albicans positive samples (53.57%). A. fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa or S. aureus were detected together in 75% of A. fumigatus positive samples each. No statistically significant relationship was detected between growth of yeast and moulds and age, gender, the use of inhaled corticosteroids or tobramycin. No significant correlation was found between the isolation of C. albicans, A. fumigatus and P. aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia or S. aureus, and the isolation of C. albicans and Haemophilus influenzae. Other factors which may be responsible for the increased isolation of fungi in CF need to be investigated.