Detection of Aflatoxin in AspergillusSpecies Isolated from Immunocompromised Hospitalized Patients

ASPERGILLUS infections have grown in importance in the last few decades. However, most of the studies have focused on Aspergillus fumigatus, the most prevalent species in the human infections which are followed by Aspergillus flavus . Even though Aspergillus flavus was more common than A. fumigatus in some reports. Aspergillus niger came next to them causing invasive aspergillosis . Aspergillus flavus is a widely feared fungal pathogen capable of producing aflatoxin, the most potent mycotoxin . Two hundred and fifty hospitalized patients were studied for fungal infection. Out of the collected cases 109 were positive fungal infection representing 43.6% of the total cases. The age of the patients ranged from 22 to 68 years, of which 61% were male and 39% were female. Three species of the genus Aspergillus were collected from 18 cases representing 16.5% of the total positive. These isolates identified as Aspergillus flavus (11 cases ) followed by A .niger (5 cases ) and A. fumigatus ( 2 cases ) representing 10.1%, 4.6%, and 1.8% , respectively. Identification was carried out using the traditional method and confirmed by the molecular techniques (amplification of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region and direct sequencing followed by comparative GenBank analysis ). All the isolates were tested for aflatoxin production using hHigh performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Aflatoxins B1 and B2 were produced from A. flavus only while A. niger and A. fumigatus were non- producers. Voriconazole (200 mg/12h for 12 weeks) and Micafungin (100-150 mg/day for 12 weeks) were successfully used for treating all the cases