Department of Health Science - University of Genoa
Doi
Abstract
Objective. Houseflies have long been regarded as potential carriers of microorganisms especially fungi. Since pathogenic microorganisms are widespread in the hospital environment, there is abundant opportunity for flies to become contaminated and in turn to contaminate the patient environment and residen- tial regions. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify fungi from the slaughter house and the hospital environments. Material and method. The flies were captured with a sterile nylon net and transferred to the Entomology Laboratory for iden- tification by standard keys. The flies were captured and rinsed in a solution of 1% sodium hypochlorite for three minutes and twice in sterile distilled water for 1min then flies was transferred to a 0.85% saline solution. 0.1ml of this solution was transferred to Sabouraud?s dextrose agar (SDA). Isolation of fungi was identi- fied by standard mycological methods.
Results. In this study totally 908 Musca domestica (418 flies from the hospital environments and 490 flies from the slaughter house) were collected in Sanandaj, Iran. The main fungi isolated were Aspergillus spp (66%). and another isolated were belong to Pene- cillium spp. (14%), Fusarium spp. (11.3%), Alternaria spp. (6%) and among the filamentous fungi, 8.6% of the isolates as Micro- sporum gypseum of dermatophytes was identified.
Conclusion. The present study supports belief that the house fly is a carrier for fungal spores. Therefore they have to be control- led and density of their population should be reduced undertaken different vector control approaches
