Viegas, CarlaAlmeida, BeatrizGomes, Anita QuintalCarolino, ElisabeteAranha Caetano, Liliana2019-05-202019-05-202019-05Viegas C, Almeida B, Gomes AQ, Carolino E, Caetano LA. Aspergillus spp. prevalence in Primary Health Care Centres: assessment by a novel multi-approach sampling protocol. Environ Res. 2019;175:133-41.http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/10049Project EXPOsE – Establishing protocols to assess occupational exposure to microbiota in clinical settings (02/SAICT/2016 – Project no 23222). Project Waste Workers' Exposure to Bioburden through Filtering Respiratory Protective Devices (IPL/2018/WasteFRPD_ESTeSL).Exposure to Aspergillus conidia may cause adverse effects on human health; however, no specific recommendations for routine assessments of Aspergillus in the clinical environment have been suggested so far. This study intended to determine the prevalence of Aspergillus in the clinical environment, focusing on ten Primary Health Care Centres (PHCC) through a novel multi-approach sampling protocol. Air and passive sampling, culture-based methods and a probe-based real-time assay for the detection of four clinically relevant Aspergillus sections were performed. Aspergillus spp. was observed in all PHCC, with highest prevalence on floor surface swabs (n=81) (18% on MEA; 6.94% on DG18). Regarding air samples (n=81), highest Aspergillus counts were found in the waiting room (94% MEA; 18% DG18), where Nigri was the most prevalent Aspergillus section. The use of a multi-approach sampling protocol to assess Aspergillus burden in the analyzed PHCC has greatly contributed to risk characterization, highlighting the need to implement corrective measures in order to avoid fungal presence in those settings.engPrimary health care centersAspergillusMulti-approach sampling protocolCulture based-methodsMolecular toolsProject nº 23222 (02/SAICT/2016)Project EXPOsEIPL/2018/WasteFRPD_ESTeSLjournal article10.1016/j.envres.2019.05.015