Nisar Ahmad, Saatea Arif, Ubaidur Rahman, Muhammad Safeer.
Frequency of pulmonary mycosis.
J Med Sci Jan ;19(1):2-4.

Objectives: To find out the frequency of fungal infections (pulmonary mycosis) in Microbiology Laboratory of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. Material and Methods: In order to find out the frequency of fungal infections of the chest, a retrospective descriptive study was performed in the Pathology Department of Khyber Medical College Peshawar. All sixty seven (67) patients, who submitted their sputum for microscopy during the year 2009, were included in the study. Results: Among the 67 patients, 34 were males and 33 were females. A total 29 (43.3%) patients showed fungal hyphae on direct microscopy of their sputum (positive cases). Out of 34 males, 14 were positive while in 33 females 15 were positive showing a greater frequency in females. Fifty patients were above 60 years of age, 40 patients had a past history of tuberculosis, 20 patients had a history of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD), 17 patients were diabetic and 2 patients had cancer. Conclusion: The frequency of fungal infection is increasing both as an isolated infection and as a concomitant infection. Every sputum sample should be examined for fungal hyphae to exclude pulmonary mycosis. It is also recommended that a sputum examination should be a must for immunocompromised as well as chronically ill patients. Efforts should be made to create awareness in public as well as health care providers about the recent frequency of pulmonary mycosis.

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