Profiling of potential pulmonary fungal pathogens and the prevalence of the association between pulmonary tuberculosis and potential fungal pathogens in presumptive tuberculosis patients referred to Saint Peter’s Specialized Tuberculosis Referral Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE: The burden of pulmonary fungal infection is increasing and often misdiagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis in developing countries where the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis is high. |Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the spectrum of potential pulmonary fungal pathogens and the prevalence of the association between pulmonary tuberculosis and potential fungal pathogens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2018 and May 2019. Sputum was collected from 636 study participants. Part of the sputum was inoculated onto Brain Heart Infusion agar, and fungi were identified following standard microbiological procedures. The remaining part of the sample was used for the investigation of pulmonary tuberculosis. RESULTS: Among 636 sputum samples, 75.9% (483) and 25.6% (163) were positive for potential fungal pathogens and pulmonary tuberculosis, respectively. The prevalence of the association between pulmonary tuberculosis and potential fungal pathogens was 20.0%. Of fungal isolates, 81.4% were yeasts. The remaining 128 (18.6%) isolates were molds. The isolation rate of fungi was higher in males (51.6%) than in females (48.4%). There was no statistically significant association between the prevalence of potential pulmonary fungal pathogens and sex (p = 0.239). Patients in the age group of 35 to 44 and above were slightly more affected than younger age groups. The association between potential fungal pathogens and age was not statistically significant (p = 0.50). CONCLUSION: High prevalence of potential pulmonary fungal pathogens and the association of tuberculosis and potential fungal pathogens recorded in this study will enforce health personnel to pay due attention to these conditions and arise the interest of researchers to conduct further work on the burden of the association between tuberculosis and potential fungal pathogens. Our study also revealed the need to employ conventional microbiology tests along with clinical and radiological evidence since clinical manifestations and radiological pictures of tuberculosis mimic that of pulmonary fungal infection.