| Summary: | Intro: Pulmonary mycoses are a fungal infection that resembles pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). The diagnosis of pulmonary mycosis is difficult because the disease does not present a specific clinic manifestation. This study aimed to investigate pulmonary mycoses among patients with clinical features and suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in the PTB endemic area of Nigeria. Methods: Three hundred sputum samples were collected from pulmonary tuberculosis patients. For each sample, the following tests were performed: Sabouraud dextrose agar for fungal culture, acid-fast bacilli (AFB) and GeneXpert for Mycobacteria tuberculosis (MTB) and potassium hydroxide for fungal screening. Filamentous fungal growth and yeasts were further examined with lactophenol cotton blue staining and germ tube respectively. Findings: Of the 300-suspected cases, 50 were positive for AFB and 147 (43.7%) had fungal pathogens isolated from their sputum samples. 33 (22.4%) of the 147 fungal pathogens were co-infection with suspected cases of PTB, of which 7 (4.8%) are rifampicin resistance MTB. Among the isolated pulmonary fungal pathogens, Candida albicans 44 (14.7%) and Blastomyces Percursus 43 (14.3%) had the highest occurrence, Aspergillus fumigatus 32 (10.7%), Aspergillus niger 14 (4.7%), and Candida tropicalis 9 (2.3%). Conclusion: The study has shown that cases of pulmonary mycosis are likely to be misdiagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis. In addition, Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected patients are susceptible to many fungal pathogens. Therefore, there is a need for routine diagnosis of pulmonary mycoses among cases of pulmonary tuberculosis for a successful tuberculosis treatment program.
|
|---|