Systematic review and metal analysis on three important fungal group (dermatophytes, yeasts and saprophytes) isolated from Iranian swimming pools.

Abstract

The swimming pool particularly has been considered in tropical area and warm seasons in order to recreational actives and also different exercises. Therefore, poor management and unhealthy behavior of swimmers could be a cause of fungal diseases transmission among swimmers. The present study has addressed the literatures on the topic of fungal contamination of indoor/outdoor swimming pools in Iran. Based on the literature review, most common fungal contaminations were on the list of sporophytes fungus. The majority of the reported and isolated fungal were Aspergillus spp.(50 %), Rhizopus spp., Cladosporium spp.kand Penicillium spp. In addition, E. flucosom and T. mentagrophytes were the most abundant dermatophytes. Meta-analyzing of the results showed that dermatophytes, yeasts and saprophytes can be found in the swimming pool samples with a percent of 2.78 %, 14.29 and 73.73 %, respectively. High heterogeneity rate between studies was found for all types of fungal categories by I2, and a p-value < 0.0001. The results of outdoor pools (hot spring pools) showed Aspergillus spp. as a predominating species and other types such as A. fumigatusm, A.feltus and A.niger with penicillium spp. as the most abundant funguses in the next order pool type. It can be concluded that the swimming pools (both indoor and outdoor) are considerable reservoir of human diseases caused by fungi, especially a potential source of dermatophyte infection.