{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T10:53:47Z","timestamp":1785581627824,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,5]],"date-time":"2019-01-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1546646400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Aspergillus conida are ubiquitous in the environment, including freshwater, water for bathing, and in drinking water. Vulnerable patients and those suffering from allergic diseases are susceptible to aspergillosis. Avoidance of Aspergillus is of paramount importance. Potential outbreaks of aspergillosis in hospital facilities have been described where the water supply has been implicated. Little is known regarding the risk of exposure to Aspergillus in water. How does Aspergillus survive in water? This review explores the biofilm state of Aspergillus growth based on recent literature and suggests that biofilms are responsible for the persistence of Aspergillus in domestic and healthcare facilities\u2019 water supplies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms7010007","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,10]],"date-time":"2019-01-10T03:22:31Z","timestamp":1547090551000},"page":"7","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":42,"title":["Exposure to Aspergillus in Home and Healthcare Facilities\u2019 Water Environments: Focus on Biofilms"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5672-9552","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Malcolm","family":"Richardson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mycology Reference Centre Manchester, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester M23 9LT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Riina","family":"Rautemaa-Richardson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mycology Reference Centre Manchester, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester M23 9LT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Richardson, M.D., and Warnock, D.W. (2012). Fungal Infection: Diagnosis and Management, Wiley-Blackwell. [4th ed.].","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118321492"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"270","DOI":"10.1136\/thoraxjnl-2014-206291","article-title":"The clinical spectrum of pulmonary aspergillosis","volume":"70","author":"Kosmidis","year":"2015","journal-title":"Thorax"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1557","DOI":"10.2217\/fmb-2018-0178","article-title":"Sequence analysis of isolates of Aspergillus in chronic and allergic aspergillosis reveal a spectrum of cryptic species","volume":"13","author":"Bongomin","year":"2018","journal-title":"Future Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"791","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2015.00791","article-title":"MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry: An emerging technology for microbial identification and diagnosis","volume":"6","author":"Singhal","year":"2015","journal-title":"Front. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Richardson, M.D., Bowyer, P., and Sabino, R. (2019). The human lung and Aspergillus: You are what you breathe in?. Med. Mycol., in press.","DOI":"10.1093\/mmy\/myy149"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Babi\u010d, M.N., Gunde-Cimerman, N., Vargha, M., Tischner, Z., Magyar, D., Ver\u00edssimo, C., Sabino, R., Viegas, C., Meyer, W., and Brand\u00e3o, J. (2017). Fungal Contaminants in drinking water regulation? A tale of ecology, exposure, purification and clinical relevance. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph14060636"},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Richardson, M.D., and Richardson, R. (2015). Aspergillus and aspergillosis. Molecular Biology of Food and Water Borne Mycotoxigenic and Mycotic Fungi, CRC Press, Inc."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"614","DOI":"10.1039\/C6EW00039H","article-title":"Characterising and understanding the impact of microbial biofilms and the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix in drinking water distribution systems","volume":"2","author":"Fish","year":"2016","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.watres.2018.04.058","article-title":"Succession of bacterial and fungal communities within biofilms of a chlorinated drinking water distribution system","volume":"141","author":"Douterelo","year":"2018","journal-title":"Water Res."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3301","DOI":"10.1007\/s00253-015-7155-3","article-title":"Microbial analysis of in situ biofilm formation in drinking water distribution systems: Implications for monitoring and control of drinking water quality","volume":"100","author":"Douterelo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1007\/5584_2016_8","article-title":"Fungi, Water Supply and Biofilms","volume":"931","author":"Costa","year":"2016","journal-title":"Adv. Exp. Med. Biol."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1016\/j.funeco.2015.10.001","article-title":"Yeasts and yeast-like fungi in tap water and groundwater, and their transmission to household appliances","volume":"20","author":"Babic","year":"2016","journal-title":"Fungal Ecol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"244","DOI":"10.2166\/wh.2018.272","article-title":"Fungal contaminants in man-made water systems connected to municipal water","volume":"16","author":"Kadaifciler","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Water Health"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"456","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph8020456","article-title":"Filamentous Fungi in drinking water, particularly in relation to biofilm formation","volume":"8","author":"Siqueira","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.17294\/2330-0698.1262","article-title":"Freshwater Fungal Infections","volume":"4","author":"Baumgardner","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Patient Cent. Res. Rev."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S131","DOI":"10.1016\/j.exppara.2014.10.005","article-title":"Isolation and characterisation of various amoebophagous fungi and evaluation of their prey spectrum","volume":"145","author":"Michel","year":"2014","journal-title":"Exp. Parasitol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mycres.2008.10.002","article-title":"The study of fungi in drinking water","volume":"113","author":"Hageskal","year":"2009","journal-title":"Mycol. Res."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"1","article-title":"Aspergillus biofilms in human disease","volume":"3","author":"Williams","year":"2016","journal-title":"Adv. Exp. Med. Biol."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Ram\u00edrez, A.I., Ram\u00edrez-Granillo, A., Medina-Canales, M.G., Rodr\u00edguez-Tovar, A.V., and Mart\u00ednez-Rivera, M.A. (2016). Analysis and description of the stages of Aspergillus fumigatus biofilm formation using scanning electron microscopy. BMC Microbiol., 16.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12866-016-0859-4"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"825","DOI":"10.1128\/AEM.02748-12","article-title":"Nontuberculous mycobacteria, fungi, and opportunistic pathogens in unchlorinated drinking water in The Netherlands","volume":"79","year":"2013","journal-title":"Appl. Environ. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1107","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijheh.2018.07.013","article-title":"Potential transmission pathways of clinically relevant fungi in indoor swimming pool facilities","volume":"221","author":"Ekowati","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"206","DOI":"10.1016\/j.micpath.2018.07.018","article-title":"Fungal biofilms in the hemodialysis environment","volume":"123","author":"Oliveira","year":"2018","journal-title":"Microb. Pathol."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"727","article-title":"Domestic shower hose biofilms contain fungal species capable of causing opportunistic infection","volume":"14","author":"Moat","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Water Res."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7648","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.7b00768","article-title":"Centralized drinking water treatment operations shape bacterial and fungal community structure","volume":"51","author":"Ma","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1016\/S1130-1406(06)70033-X","article-title":"Fungi in bottled water: A case study of a production plant","volume":"23","author":"Ribeiro","year":"2006","journal-title":"Rev. Iberoam. Micol."}],"container-title":["Microorganisms"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/7\/1\/7\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T12:23:41Z","timestamp":1760185421000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/7\/1\/7"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,5]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1]]}},"alternative-id":["microorganisms7010007"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/microorganisms7010007","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-2607"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-2607","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,5]]}}}