Survival of opportunistic fungi in clinical wastes

Abstract

Clinical wastes are defined as any waste containing blood or human body fluids, generated from hospitals, medical centers and clinics, or other related clinical activity. These wastes represent potential source for many pathogens such as viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria. However, fungi represent more importance than bacteria, because they could grow and multiply in the clinical wastes due to their simple nutritional requirements. The present study aimed to investigate the diversity of opportunistic fungi in the clinical wastes generated from healthcare facilities. A total of 92 clinical waste samples were collected from Clinical Centre of University Science Malaysia (USM). The fungal isolates were isolated on V8A medium, purified using single spore technique and identified by phenotypic method based on morphological and cultural characteristics on different culture media. Fungi were detected in 83.69% of the samples. Hundred fungal isolates were obtained, among them Aspergillus section Nigri, A. niger, A. fumigatus, A. tubingensis, Penicillium simplicissium, P. waksmanii and Curvularia lunata were the most predominant. Clinical wastes is one of the main risk sources for environment due to the presence many of opportunistic fungi.