Fungal bioaerosol as an occupational hazard in the podiatrist’s workplace

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have reported the potential emission of nail dust to the indoor air of the podiatrist’s workplace during nail drilling procedures. The main objective of this study was to analyse the fungal bioaerosol present in the indoor air of podiatry rooms, including during the nail drilling procedure. Seventeen private clinics were sampled in Madrid during spring and summer. The most prevalent filamentous fungi detected were Cladosporium spp. and Penicillium spp. in both seasons. The presence of Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton interdigitale was reported in samples during the drilling procedures, establishing a positive association with the clinical suspicion of onychomycosis (p = 0.002) and the utilization of aspiration systems (p=0.04). The present study concludes that airborne fungal concentrations in podiatrist’s clinics are consistent with national and international guidance. Occupational exposure to dermatophytes may briefly occur during definite periods across the daily activity despite the use of dust aspiration systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Fungal bioaerosols
• indoor air
• dermatophytes
• nail dust
• occupational exposure

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the participants who were involved in this study, especially the podiatric clinics of Madrid and their workforce. This work would have been impossible without the generous in-kind support of the Microbiology Area, School of Medicine, Complutense University of Madrid and the support from the Nursery Department, School of Nursery, Physiotherapy & Podiatry of Complutense University as well. Thanks to José Martínez, MD Emeritus professor from Thomas Jefferson University who gave suggestions for manuscript revision and for his important intellectual content.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.