Isolation frequency of medically important fungi and fluconazole resistant of Candida sp from hospital cockroaches.

BackgroundCockroaches are common pests in homes and hospitals. They are known to cause allergic reactions in certain individuals and have found to be potential vectors for various bacterial and parasitic pathogens. This study assessed the potential of hospital cockroaches to act as vectors of medically important fungal pathogens on their external surfaces.MethodsCockroaches were captured from the main Intensive care unit (ICU), burn unit, adult surgical wards , pediatric oncology wards, intern hostel kitchen and the central kitchen of a national referral teaching hospital in Tanzania. Normal saline washings from the external surface of cockroaches were cultured on standard mycological media to facilitate isolation and identification of medically important molds and yeasts. Susceptibility of Candida sp isolates to fluconazole was tested using the CLSI M27-A3 microdilution method.ResultsAt total of 72 cockroaches were captured from various sites of the hospital between February and March 2015. All cockroaches captured were shown to carry medically importance fungi. A total of 956 medically important fungi were isolated, 57.9 % were Candida sp., 23.2%, Aspergillus sp. , 3.1% Cladosporium sp., 1.8% Rhizopus sp., 1.2 % Geotrichum sp., 0.9 % Pencillum sp. , 0.7% Alternaria sp, 0.6 % Fusarium sp , 0.3% Mucor sp and 10.1% others. Aspergillus fumigatus (50.0%) was the most commonly isolated followed by Aspergillus niger ( 15.8%) among the Aspergillus isolates.Over 16.3 % of the Candida isolates not intrinsically resistant to fluconazole showed resistance to this drug.mResistance was most frequently found in Candidapseudotropicalis (23.8%) and Candida glabarata (20.0%) and least in isolates of Candida albicans ( 6.3%). ConclusionThe external surfaces of cockroaches from this hospital may act as reservoirs of medically important opportunistic fungi exhibiting resistance to fluconazole.