Is water a source of Aspergillus?
At this point, we should consider the recent suggestion that hospital water supplies may be a source of Aspergillus species spores. Anaissie and colleagues initially reported that Aspergillus spp could be recovered from water supply structures. They went on, in an abstract presented at the 39th ICAAC, to describe the results of air sampling carried out in a patient’s room with the shower on and off: counts were higher in the bathroom, and in wet air versus dry. They concluded that showering resulted in aerosolization of spores and was a potential source of exposure (17). The Norwegian-led group of Warris and colleagues carried out a study in a paediatric BMT unit, sampling water from the taps in the unit as well as the mains supply. Filamentous fungi were recovered from all water samples, Aspergillus fumigatus from 60 % of tap samples (18). These results are of considerable interest, but larger scale studies are required.
