Deborah Kumoye And Azeez Adeniji

Aspergillus is a common filamentous fungus which is ubiquitous and are known to be responsible for diseases in humans. Respiratory infections are commonly responsible for most infectious disease associated mortality, amongst which the respiratory tract fungal infections are mostly unknown, and the real problem is hard to pin down. Patients with filamentous fungi in their airways often present with sign and symptoms mimicking tuberculosis. Acid-Fast Bacilli (AFB) tests are often utilized in diagnosing an active tuberculosis (TB) infection. This present study was conducted to detect and estimate the prevalence of Aspergillus species responsible for respiratory tract infection among patients with negative Acid-Fast Bacilli smear in Lagos, Nigeria. A total of 360 sputum samples of patients with respiratory infection were collected and subjected to mycological examination using culture and microscopy. The results revealed a prevalence of 60.5% for Aspergillus species in the samples collected. Aspergillus flavus (36.7%), Aspergillus niger (18.7%), Aspergillus fumigatus (1.4%), Aspergillus wentii (17.64%) and Aspergillus aculeatus (0.8%) were the predominant species of Aspergillus isolated. The study showed a higher prevalence of Aspergillus isolates among females (35.2%) compared to males (25.3%) and the age group 20-29 emerged with the highest percentage of occurrence (15.6%) amongst the various age groups in the study. This study helps in establishing that Aspergillus species are responsible for the respiratory infection in the sputum analyzed and this result is expected to assist in the management of patients presenting respiratory infections. Keywords: Aspergillus, filamentous fungi, respiratory infection, sputum, gender, age group  0150