Children’s public health: Danger of exposure to pathogenic fungi in recreational places in the middle-west region of Brazil

Abstract

Background: Dermatophytes are keratinophilic fungi, considered etiological agents of cutaneous mycoses in man and animals. The objective of this work was to isolate dermatophytic and non-dermatophytic fungi in recreational sandboxes (rainy and dry periods) in public day-care centers located in the city of Cuiabá-MT (Middle-west of Brazil). Methods: Samples (n = 200) were collected from the superficial layer of the sandboxes at a depth of 2–5 cm in 10 public nurseries in Cuiabá-MT. Hair baits measuring 1–2 cm were autoclaved and dispersed in 50 g of the sample in sterile plates, incubated at 28 °C, moistened with chloramphenicol solution (50 mg/L). After 6 weeks the baits were inoculated on Sabouraud agar plus 50 mg/L chloramphenicol and 500 mg/L cycloheximide. The fungi were identified according to macroscopic and micromorphological characteristics. Results: From the collected sand samples, 1318 colonies and 56 species of fungi belonging to 22 genera were isolated. The most important genera were Paecilomyces spp. (30.42%), Penicillium spp. (19.12%), Fusarium spp. (11.46%) and Aspergillus spp. (11.15%). Dermatophytes were recovered in 50% of day-care centers in a total of 29 identified colonies, the Trichophyton genus (86.2%) being the most frequently isolated. Conclusions: The dermatophytes in the recreational areas of day-care centers can pose a risk to the health of its users, especially for children and the employees. Work with this profile is very important to guide actions related to health surveillance. Keywords: Public day care, Dermatophytes, Sand, Cutaneous mycoses, Cuiabá-MT