Avaliação da qualidade do ar e pesquisa de fungos em uma clínica de hemodiálise no município de Caicó-RN, Brasil.

Introduction: Airborne fungi have the ability to release into the environment their reproductive structures called spores, which are transported by the air and when they find a suitable area, they deposit, colonize, and reproduce. Given the facts, this work aimed to isolate, quantify and identify the fungal microbiota present in the air inside a hemodialysis clinic located in Rio Grande do Norte. Methodology: For this, the spontaneous sedimentation method was used for the deposition of these spores in Petri dishes with Sabouraud Dextrose Agar culture medium, which were exposed in the places for 15 minutes, and incubated at 28°C for up to 14 days. After this period, colonies were counted, picked and identified macro and microscopically using the microculture technique. Results: With the identification it was possible to notice the presence of the filamentous fungi Cladosporium spp. (42.85%) which had the highest prevalence, Aspergillus spp. (7.14%), Bipolaris spp. (3.54%), and Mycelia sterilia (3.57%), in addition to a number of yeasts (42.85%) whose genera were not identified. In addition, an equation was used to measure air quality, and it can be seen that the maximum amount of Colony Forming Unit per cubic meter (CFU/m3) found and the I/E (amount of fungus inside the environment/amount of fungus outside the environment) ratio were within the limits established by ANVISA. Conclusion: therefore, the air quality was evaluated according to the ANVISA parameters and was considered satisfactory, since the amount of CFU/m3 and the I/E ratio are within the established limits. These data are important to monitor the health of patients and professionals who attend the clinic, as well as to prevent possible fungal infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]