ABSTRACT
Fungi are considered as a life threatening in immunocompromised patients and respiratory tract is the main involvement location. Critically ill patients who are admitted to intensive care units [ICU] may also be susceptible to these infections, because of their conditions. Fungal colonization in respiratory tract maybe consider as a probable source for infection. Therefore, in the present study we evaluatedfungal flora of respiratory tract in patients admitted to ICU. Bronchoalveolar lavage samples were collected by bronchoscope from 45 patients with underlying predisposing conditions for invasive fungal infection twice a week. Samples were homogenated by pancreatin for performance of direct microscopic examination and cultured on Sabouraud's dextrose agar. The grown fungi on culture media were identified by standard mycological procedures. The main underlying predisposing conditions were COPD [22.2%], hematologic malignancy [20.3%] and prolonged stay in the ICU [16.9%]. The mean length of ICU stay was 19.6 days. Overall, 80 samples had positive result in direct examination [76.2%] and culture [71.2%], respectively. The most frequent isolated fungi were Candida [64.7%], Aspergillus [19.3%] and Penicillium [7.9%]. Among Candida and Aspergillus species, C. albicans and A. flavus were most common. In 48.4% of patients, similar fungal species were isolated in both sampling times. The results of our study showed that the ICU patients were susceptible to fungal resistant colonization especially Candida and Aspergillus as two life threatening fungal agents. So we emphasize the control procedures to reduce the fungal infection possibility among ICU patients