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Nasal swab as a tool to access occupational exposure to fungi in a cork industry

2019-06Conference object Open access
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dc.contributor.authorViegas, Carla
dc.contributor.authorPacífico, Cátia
dc.contributor.authorFaria, Tiago
dc.contributor.authorAranha Caetano, Liliana
dc.contributor.authorGomes, Anita Quintal
dc.contributor.authorViegas, Susana
dc.date.accessioned2019-07-23T09:49:08Z
dc.date.available2019-07-23T09:49:08Z
dc.date.issued2019-06
dc.description.abstractApproximately 49% of all cork produced worldwide in 2016 was from Portugal, where there are 650 companies working in this production sector. Additionally, two thirds of the world exportation comes from Portugal, with Portuguese cork industry employing about ten thousands workers (MTSS 2009). The presence of the Penicillium section Aspergilloides (formerly known as Penicillium glabrum) in this industry involves the risk of respiratory diseases such as suberosis, a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis that is one of the most prevalent diseases among cork workers. Besides Penicillium section Aspergilloides, Aspergillus section Fumigati was also reported in cork industries. This is one of the most ubiquitous saprophytic fungi and is also considered one of the potentially pathogenic species with the highest clinical relevance. The use of the nasal swab procedure is of particular importance since it allows to determine the fungal presence in the nose cavity, being an easy and painless collection method. The aim of this study was to determine the exposure to the dominant mycobiota of this occupational environment through the mycological analysis of nasal exudates from cork industry workers. Nasal mucus samples from 360 workers from 3 companies (plant A - 41workers; plant B – 165 workers; and plant C – 154 workers) and also from a control group (38 individuals) with administrative tasks were performed. Duplicate samples were taken with sterilized cotton swabs from one nostril of each worker. The swabs were rotated against the internal anterior walls of the nostril and then placed in the provided transport tube. One of the swab samples was then plated onto malt extract agar (MEA) supplemented with chloramphenicol (0.05 %). All the collected samples were incubated at 27 °C for 5 to 7 days. The other swab sample was used for DNA extraction following molecular identification of Penicillium section Aspergilloides and Aspergillus section Fumigati by Real-Time PCR (qPCR). Among the 360 workers subjected to the nasal swab assay only 50 (13.9%) did not present fungal contamination. Around 36.6% of the workers' nasal swabs presented Penicillium genus contamination, 9.9% with Aspergillus sp. and 29.1% with more than one fungal genera. Among the 38 subjects from the control group, 16 (42.1%) did not present fungal contamination, 44.7% present Penicillium sp. and 18.4% Cladosporium sp. One subject presented Mucor sp. and other Geotrichum sp. contamination. DNA from Penicillium section Aspergilloides was successfully amplified by qPCR in 37 cork workers. From those, it was only possible to identify in 12 samples the genus Penicillium by culture based-methods. Aspergillus section Fumigati was also co-amplified with Penicillium section Aspergilloides in one worker, while in another one was detected singularly. As expected, in the 38 controls analyzed none were positive for Penicillium section Aspergilloides nor Aspergillus section Fumigati. The fungal species identified and detected in the collected nose swabs presented the same trend described for this very specific occupational environment. This approach allowed us to estimate the risk associated with the performance of the tasks since high dust contamination is expected to promote the exposure to fungi playing a role as carriers to the worker’s nose. As observed in previous environmental assessments, culture-based methods coupled with molecular tools allowed to obtain a wider spectrum of the workers' nasal mycobiota.pt_PT
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.citationViegas C, Pacífico C, Faria T, Caetano LA, Gomes AQ, Viegas S. Nasal swab as a tool to access occupational exposure to fungi in a cork industry. In: INRS – Biological Risks, Nancy (France), June 5-7, 2019.pt_PT
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/10358
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.relation.publisherversionhttps://www.inrs-risquesbiologiques2019.fr/docs/programme_inrsrb2019.en.pdf?v=20190620pt_PT
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/pt_PT
dc.subjectOccupational healthpt_PT
dc.subjectOccupational exposurept_PT
dc.subjectFungipt_PT
dc.subjectCork industrypt_PT
dc.subjectAspergillus-associated diseasespt_PT
dc.subjectAspergilluspt_PT
dc.subjectPortugalpt_PT
dc.titleNasal swab as a tool to access occupational exposure to fungi in a cork industrypt_PT
dc.typeconference object
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.conferencePlaceNancypt_PT
person.familyNameViegas
person.familyNameAranha Caetano
person.familyNameViegas
person.givenNameCarla
person.givenNameLiliana
person.givenNameSusana
person.identifier248817
person.identifier.ciencia-idEE1E-C639-D70F
person.identifier.ciencia-id9716-9DAC-532A
person.identifier.ciencia-idA919-7318-63DC
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-1545-6479
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1496-2609
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1015-8760
person.identifier.ridB-7217-2013
person.identifier.ridI-4053-2012
person.identifier.scopus-author-id55443609700
person.identifier.scopus-author-id35270591500
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typeconferenceObjectpt_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationb5fa5da4-50c3-4b88-ae20-1bc63cb485f7
relation.isAuthorOfPublication6517c656-f913-4f54-8682-77c2856c9e4c
relation.isAuthorOfPublication13115332-43f7-4048-a8a5-2f2b855a8c92
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery13115332-43f7-4048-a8a5-2f2b855a8c92

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