الفهرس 
Incidence of Aspergillus species in poultryOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 136 |  |  |
| | | from | 136 | | |
Abstract
Aspergillosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the infection with Aspergillus. The genus Aspergillus is of great importance to public health because it includes several species that may cause arrange of diseases affecting lungs, including Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis, Aspergilloma, and disseminated disease when the fungus spreads from the lungs.The most important species are A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. nidulans.
Conventional methods were carried out on 90 laryngeal swabs which were collected from chickens, ducks and pigeons (30 for each) showed signs of dyspnea, gasping, and cyanosis from different farms in Qena province, Egypt for detection of Aspergillus species. Moreover 90 samples were collected from the soil of poultry rearing area, air, and water troughs (30 from each). Also 30 laryngeal swabs were collected from occupations with the diseased birds. As well as, 30 sputum samples were collected from patients admitted to Qena Chest Hospital showed chronic respiratory symptoms and had history of being in contact with birds. Molecular technique was carried out on 23 A. fumigatus isolates detected by conventional methods.
In the present study, Aspergillus species were detected in poultry, environmental, and human samples with the following percentages 78.9, 68.9 and 43.3, respectively.
Aspergillus species were detected in all examined laryngeal swabs collected from chickens from which A. fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. niger were isolated with the following percentages 63.3, 33.3, and 36.7, respectively.
In ducks, Aspergillus species were isolated in the percentage of 80 from which A. flavus and A. niger were isolated by the rate of 80% and 56.7%, respectively while A. fumigatus couldn’t be isolated.
In pigeons, the rate of Aspergillus infection was 56.7% from which A. fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. niger were detected with the percentages of 26.7, 20, and 40, respectively.
Also, samples collected from the environment (soil, air, and water) were found to be contaminated with Aspergillus species in percentages of 66.7, 100, and 40, respectively. A. fumigatus could be recovered from one water sample only (3.3%) and 2 air samples (6.7%) while couldn’t be recovered from the soil. A. flavus incidences were 63.3, 100, and 20% in soil, air, and water samples, respectively. A. niger was detected in soil, air, and water samples as the following, 50, 100, and 23.3%, respectively.
On the other hand, a total of 60 human samples were examined for Aspergillosis, out of which 26 (43.3%) yielded Aspergillus growth. Aspergillus isolates were obtained from two types of specimens; 11 isolates (36.7%) were obtained from thirty laryngeal swabs collected from occupations contact with the diseased birds and 15 isolates (50%) were obtained from thirty sputum samples collected from patients presented with pulmonary complaints. A. fumigatus was the predominant species (30%) isolated from the examined occupations laryngeal swabs, followed by A. niger (10%) at the time that A. flavus couldn’t be isolated. While in hospitalized patients A. fumigatus and A. niger incidences were relatively close (36.7% and 20%, respectively) and A. flavus was found in the incidence of 13.3%.
Regarding sex, the higher incidence of Aspergillosis occured among females (40%) than in males (33.3%) among occupations contact with birds. In contrary, Aspergillosis was detected among hospitalized patients in the rate of 66.7% and 33.3% of males and females respectively. As well as, the majority of Aspergillus infection occured among >30-50 years group (60 and 80%) in occupations and hospitalized patients respectively followed by age 16-30 years among occupations while among patients, group >50 is higher in the incidence of infection.
Twenty-three isolates of A. fumigatus obtained from chickens, pigeons, occupations, and hospitalized patients (n=5 for each), water (n=1) and air (n=2) were confirmed by using PCR. Sequencing of ITS (Internal