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MONITORING ASPERGILLUS SPECIES BY QUANTITATIVE PCR DURING CONSTRUCTION OF A MULTI-STORY HOSPITAL BUILDING
Citation:
Morrison, J., C. S. Yang, K. Lin, R A. Haugland, A. N. Neely, AND S J. Vesper. MONITORING ASPERGILLUS SPECIES BY QUANTITATIVE PCR DURING CONSTRUCTION OF A MULTI-STORY HOSPITAL BUILDING. JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION 57(1):85-87, (2004).
Impact/Purpose:
1. Evaluate the efficacy of QPCR technology for detecting low level microbiological contaminants in water supplies
2. Provide additional data on the range of pathogenic or potentially pathogenic species of fungi in community distribution system and hospital water samples.
Description:
Noscomial fungal infections represent a persistent threat in hospitals. One of the major issues in fungal control has been monitoring these fungi in a timely manner. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) allows for the rapid (2 to 4 h), sensitive (often down to a single spore) detection and quantitifcation of fungi.
In this report, we describe the application of this technology to the analysis of Aspergillus contamination in a five-story addition to a community hospital in the upper mid-west of the US. While there have been many reports of fungal contamination associated with the remodeling of existing structures or with building demolition, we report here Aspergillus contamination associated with one of the risks of new construction: rain prior to building closure.