Pulmonary mycosis (PM) diagnosis usually represents a great challenge as there are no specific pathognomonic or radiological characteristics. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence of respiratory infection with fungal pathogens in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the predisposing factors and the clinical characteristics of the infected patients. Molecular identification of the fungal pathogens and phylogenetic trees based on 18S rRNA sequences were performed to depict the relationship between the isolated strains. Out of 250 patients admitted with COPD, 93 cases (37.20%) were positive for fungal infection while 157 cases (62.8 %) were negative for this infection. The risk factors were mainly the corticosteroid use, diabetes mellitus, smoking, prolonged antibiotic usage, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and chemotherapy. Most of the fungal infections were of the filamentous type recording 70.97%, whereas Candida spp. comprised 29.03% of the causative agents. A. fumigatus and A. flavus were the most prevalent fungal pathogens (18.28% for each). Sensitivity test was carried out against isolated pathogenic yeast and moulds using different antifungals. Ketoconazole, Posaconazole and Itraconazole had the highest percentage of sensitivity against the isolated pathogens; 82.2%, 67.7% and 65.65, respectively.
Key words: Pulmonary mycosis, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prevalence, risk factors, molecular identification, sensitivity tests.
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