Identifying indoor air Penicillium species: a challenge for allergic patients.

Purpose: Penicillium is the most common mould isolated in housing. Penicillium chrysogenum is the only species tested by prick test or serology for allergic patients. The American Institute of Medicine has accepted Penicillium as an aetiological agent of rhinitis in children and adults and as an asthma agent in children.

Rural and urban distribution of wild and domestic carnivore stools in the context of Echinococcus multilocularis environmental exposure.

In zoonotic infections, the relationships between animals and humans lead to parasitic disease with severity that ranges from mild symptoms to life-threatening conditions. In cities and their surrounding areas, this statement is truer with the overcrowding of the protagonists of the parasites' life cycle. The present study aims to investigate the distribution of a parasite, Echinococcus multilocularis, which is the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis, using copro-sampling in historically endemic rural settlements of the eastern part of France and in newly endemic areas including urban parks and settlements surrounding Paris.

Assessment of pets (cats and dogs) in homes using electrostatic dust collectors and QPCR: new tools to evaluate exposure and risk of allergies.

Contradictory results are found in the literature concerning fungi, bacteria, and pet exposure and the risk of developing asthma. All these allergens have been thoroughly studied separately in cohort studies, and a variety of sampling and analytical methods are used. It is already possible to characterize fungi, mites, and bacteria by QPCR.

Positive fungal quantitative PCR and Th17 cytokine detection in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids: Complementary biomarkers of hypersensitivity pneumonitis?

Background: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a large group of diseases, including hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and sarcoidosis.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to identify bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) biomarkers which could be contributive for HP diagnosis.

Methods: We analyzed 39 BALF samples from 12 ILD patients with sarcoidosis, 11 with IPF and 16 with HP.

Microbiological consequences of indoor composting.

Recycling of organic waste appeals to more and more people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological contamination around organic waste bins at three distances over a 12-month period. Contamination near the customary trash of control households was evaluated at the beginning to ensure that there is no recruitment bias.