Mycotic Infections in Bronchopulmonary Diseases

Abstract

Background: Recently pulmonary mycotic infections have gained increasing recognition in the field of infectious diseases and pose a difficult challenge.Since clinicians now see an increasing number of immuno-compromised patients, high index of suspicion is necessary for timely diagnosis and treatment of mycotic infections. Aim: The study was designed to document the prevalence and sensitivity pattern of fungal pathogens associated with bronchopulmonary infections. Material & Methods: The study includes 60 clinically diagnosed cases of bronchopulmonary infections along with 20 normal healthy individuals taken as control. Samples collected from cases and controls were processed to examine the presence of fungal pathogens and their sensitivity pattern was studied. Results: 40 fungal pathogens were isolated. Majority male patients (70%) were affected, among them(50%) belong to the age group of (41-60 years). Among the isolated fungal pathogens Candida spp predominated(40%) followed by Aspergillus spp (32.5%).One spp of Penicillium marneffei was isolated from an HIV sero positive patient. Two non albicans Candida spp were isolated from controlgroup. Among the antifungals used all the isolates were resistant to Trimethoprim (Tr),Co-trimazine(Cm),Co-trimoxazole(Co) and Polymyxin-B(Pb). All spp of Candida, Aspergillus and Penicillium were found to be sensitive to Clotrimazole(Cc).But Fusarium and Mucor spp were resistant to all the antifungal agents used. Conclusion: Hence a great awareness is required for selective isolation and identification of fungi along with their antifungal susceptibility pattern.