Drug Resistance Patterns of Fungi Isolated from Hospital-Associated Moth Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Babol, Iran

Abstract

Background: The moth fly Clogmia albipunctata (Diptera: Psychodidae) has received little attention as a potential me­chanical vector of drug-resistant pathogens in hospital settings. This study aimed to evaluate the antifungal susceptibil­ity profile of fungal isolates recovered from moth flies collected in teaching hospitals of Babol, Iran.
Methods: Antifungal susceptibility profile evaluation was performed on 50 fungal isolates (including 36 filamentous fungi and 14 yeasts) collected from moth flies in teaching hospitals of Babol city, using the broth microdilution method in accordance with the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). The concentrations of anti­fungal drugs ranged from 0.032 to 64 μg/mL. Geometric mean (G-mean), MIC_50, and MIC₉₀ values ​were calculated for statistical analysis.

Results: Luliconazole and posaconazole exhibited the lowest MIC values against most Aspergillus isolates. Similarly, posaconazole and voriconazole displayed potent antifungal activity against Candida albicans isolates, while up to 90% of C. albicans exhibited high-level fluconazole resistance (MIC ≥ 8 µg/mL).
Conclusion: Hospital-associated moth flies were found to carry pathogenic fungi with unusual antifungal resistance patterns. These findings highlight that such insects may serve as potential mechanical carriers of drug-resistant fungi. Nonetheless, monitoring synanthropic insects could be important as a complementary measure in hospital infection con­trol programs.