A Survey of Fungal Flora in Respiratory Therapy Equipment

This survey, designed to detect the presence of fungi in respiratory therapy equipment by using a modification of the method of Nazemi et al, indicated significant numbers of fungi in 6 of 30 respiratory therapy devices used in the home, while none of 138 devices used in the hospital showed significant numbers of fungi. Species of fungi detected in large numbers were all yeasts and yeast-like organisms. Additionally, 50% of home devices were found to be moderately to heavily contaminated with either bacteria or fungi, or both, while only 3.6% of the hospital equipment achieved similar levels of contamination (P less than or equal to 0.005), and in these cases, bacteria were the primary contaminants. It was concluded that fungi merited consideration as potential contaminants of respiratory therapy equipment, and that home care respirators presented significantly greater changes for possibly hazardous contamination than did hospital-maintained equipment.