[The occurrence of keratinolytic fungi in the polluted environment of the Labedy District in Gliwice].

This study was undertaken to find relationships between the degree of bacteriological contamination with qualitative composition of potentially pathogenic keratinolytic fungal population in soil, sediment and air samples from the Labedy district in Gliwice (Poland). The examined soil samples were characterized by the predominance of Botryotrichum piluliferum, Chrysosporium anamorph of Arthroderma curreyi, Myceliophthora anamorph of Ctenomyces serratus, Chrysosporium pannicola and Trichphyton ajelloi. These species are typical for keratinolytic mycoflora in moderate climate soils, and their abundance was certainly resulted from the assembly of keratin remains in the soil environment. In the light of the weak bacteriological and mycological differentiation of the examined soil samples, however, it is difficult to determine categorically the extent to which the remains were originated from sewage via soil flooding by sewage or air transportation, or from the local human and animal population. Subsequently, the population of keratinolytic fungi in sediments was found to be clearly dependent of the degree of water contamination with sewage. In badly polluted sediments, Chrysosporium pannicola, Chrysosporium anamorph of Aphanoascus fulvescens, Chrysosporium keratinophilum, Trichophyton ajelloi and Microsporum cookei were prevalent species. Keratinolytic fungi were only a small part of airborne fungal population in sewage bioaerosoles. Geomyces pannorum, a soil species better known by its celullotytic than keratinolytic properties, predominated in air samples. Some pathogenic species, such as Aspergillus flavus, Aureobasidium pullulans, Chrysporium anamorph of Aphanoascus fulvescens, Candida spp., Geotrichum candidum, Microsporum canis, Sporothrix schenckii and Trichosporon beigelii, were recovered in the present study. This confirms that the sewage-contaminated environments in an important storage place of pathogenic fungi, mostly from the opportunistic subgroup.