Aspergillosis refers to fungi infections of the respiratory tract caused by Aspergillus species, especially Aspergillus fumigatus. Infection of A. fumigatus was increased in the last few years due to either resistances to antibiotics or the influence of other factors such as other fungal infections. The present study aimed to review the impact of Aspergillus fumigatus in Aspergillosis cases, and study the role of Singleplex PCR for amplification of ITS1, ITS4 of rRNA gene in the detection of fungal isolate. In this study, One hundred sputum samples were collected from patients admitted to the specialize chest and respiratory diseases center / Baghdad who were suffering from respiratory problems. During these studied, molds were isolation and identification based on Conventional method (Direct microscopy by using 10% KOH, and fungal culture was done on Sabouraud Dextrose agar supplemented with chloramphenicol and on Czapek-Dox agar incubated at 37°C and examined for 3-7 days then macroscopic, microscopic examination of the colony by(lactophenol cotton blue stain )and molecular methods by using Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)technique for identification. The 10% KOH examination was positive for 35 cases, while laboratory culturing was positive for 53 cases. Aspergillus sp were isolated from 44(83%) patients; A. fumigatus was isolated in 23 (42. 4%) patients while A. flavus, A. niger, and A. terreus were isolated from 11 (20. 08%), (13. 2%) and 3 (5. 7%) patients respectively, also isolated Penicillium spp. at percentage 1(1. 9%). In this study. The ages of participants ranged from 10-70years with a mean age of 34years, the males were more susceptible to fungal infection, were recorded 35/53 (66. 3), compared to females were 18/53 (33. 96). The infection of fungi was more prevalent in ages 30-40recorded 26(53. 06%) followed by ages 40-50, 13(26. 5), while the lowest infection recorded in the age group 10- 20 years was 2(2. 04%). DNA isolated from twenty-three A. fumigatus isolates was used as a template, and the specific of oligonucleotide primer sequences were used in conventional PCR to detect the presence of internal transcribed spacer region ( ITS) region of the rRNA gene for Aspergillus fumigates. The results of the PCR amplification of the rRNA gene showed that this gene was present in 19 samples out 23 positive samples which isolation with a PCR product size of approximated 385 bp, while 4 samples out 23 positive samples showed negative results for the presence of this gene as indicated by the absence of the PCR products in their relevant lanes. Statistical analysis revealed that the PCR to have a sensitivity of 95. 1% in the detection of Aspergillus fumigatus in Aspergillosis cases. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a rapid, specific, and sensitive method to detect Aspergillus fumigatus in aspergillosis cases of humans.
Significance of Aspergillus fumigatus rDNA Detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction in Diagnosis of Pulmonary Aspergillosis
