PATHOGENIC FUNGI IN PORT HARCOURT'S OPEN DRAINS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

Abstract

This study describes the occurrence of several fungal species in a wastewater from an open drainage system in Port Harcourt. Open drains create a lot of environmental and health problems and the frequency are increasing since these drains are usually clogged. People dump their garbage into gutters thus making drainage systems the resting place for cans, bottles, plastics, and other household products and due to poor sanitation practices such water runs over the ground during rain storms and picks up feces and contaminates water resources. Wastewater and sediment samples were collected from five (5) sampling sites along the Ntanwogba Creek drainage channel from which fungi were recovered by simple analytical techniques. The mean total fungal count ranged from 4.3x105 cfu/ml to1.7x106 cfu/ml for waste water and 5.7x104 cfu/g to 2.9x106 cfu/g for sediment samples. In total 77 isolates were identified across the open drains sampled and they include Cryptococcus neoformans and Rhizopus the most representative genera (36.4%) and (29.9% respectively) followed by Torulopsis glabrata (10.4%), Penicillium chrysogenum (7.8%), Aspergillus versicolor (5.2%), Apergillus niger (3.9%), while Mucor, Aspergillus temairic, Scopulariopsis and Phoma (1.3 % each) had the least and finally the species of Torulopsis and Cryptococcus were isolated as yeasts. The wastewater from the open drainage systems may play a role in fungal dissemination, including opportunistic pathogens causing infectious diseases. Besides, their significant ecological role in nutrient turn over in such environments cannot be overemphasized