Identification and incidence of fungal strains in chronic rhinosinusitis patients

The fungal revolution taking place in otorhinology inspired us to study the frequency of occurrence of fungi in the nasal mucus of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients (with or without polyposis) in order to evaluate the incidence of eosinophilic fungal sinusitis in CRS patients. Ninety-six samples were examined from patients with CRS. In 74 cases mucus was collected non-invasively, and in 22 cases during operation. The Gram-stained direct smears of all samples were also evaluated. Bacteria and fungi colonizing in the mucus were detected by culturing method. The control group consisted of 50 healthy volunteers. Typical aerobic pathogenic bacteria could be isolated from 34 patients. Fifty-seven aerobic bacteria were isolated, i.e. 1.6 bacteria/positive patient with a maximum of 3 different bacteria/sample. The most frequently isolated bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae. Yeasts and moulds could be detected from 79 patients (83%): Candida albicans, Candida spp., Aspergillus spp., Cladosporium spp, and Penicillium spp. were isolated most frequently. Altogether 237 yeasts and moulds were isolated, i.e. 3.0 different fungi/positive patient, with a maximum of 5 different fungi/sample. In the control group aerobic pathogens were not isolated, only apathogenic species. Fungi were isolated from 22 healthy patients (44%). These data indicate that fungi are frequently involved in the aetiology of CRS. IgE-medicated hypersensitivity to fungal allergens could not be proven in our patients.