Isolation of Keratinophilic Fungi from the Dust of Ferry Boats and Trains in Italy: Isolierungsbefunde für keratinophile Pilze aus Staubproben von Fähren und Eisenbahnzügen in Italien

Abstract

The occurrence of fungi of the genera Epidermophyton, Microsporum, Trichophyton and Chrysosporium in dust collected from 10 ferry boats and 11 railway cars in Italy was studied. Ferry boats: 101 colonies of fungi were isolated. Of the dermatophytes, E. floccosum represented 2,0% of all the colonies isolated, M. canis 3,0%, M. gypseum 5,0% and Tr. mentagrophytes represented 2,0%. E. floccosum was isolated from 2 ferry boats, M. canis from 3, M. gypseum from 4 and Tr. mentagrophytes from 2. Only two ferry boats appeared to be free of pathogenic fungi. Of all the species isolated, Chr. pannorum was the most numeorus (45.4%). In all five species of Chrysosporium were isolated. Railway cars: The final destination of the trains, coming from various cities, was Rome''s Termini Station. 336 strains were isolated. The following species were found: E. floccosum 3%, Tr. mentagrophytes 4.8%, Tr. tonsurans 0.3%, Tr. ajelloi 0.6%, Trichophyton spp. 3%, M. canis 5% and M. gypseum 1.5%. Seven different species of Chrysosporium were isolated. Chr. pannorum was the most numerous one (71% of all). Regarding the occurrence of dermatophytes, E. floccosum was isolated from 8 fo the 11 trains examined, M. canis from 10, M. gypseum from 4, Tr. mentagrophytes from 8 and Tr. tonsurans from only 1 of the trains. All of the trains were positive for pathogenic fungi, ranging from a minimum of 2 species to a maximum of 4. The isolation of these fungi must, however, be correlated with the circumstances which favored their survival, availability of keratinic material and the thoroughness of the train cleaning. In both of the environments examined, the presence of pathogenic fungi is believed to be traceable to passengers affected with dermatophytoses or the pets that traveled with some of them. M. gypseum, being a geophilic fungus, may have been introduced by wind currents dispersing its spores.