Optimal media for use in air sampling to detect cultivable bacteria and fungi in the pharmacy

Current guidelines for air sampling for bacteria and fungi in compounding pharmacies require the use of a medium for each type of organism. U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) chapter <797> (http://www.pbm.va.gov/linksotherresources/docs/USP797PharmaceuticalCompoundingSterileCompounding.pdf) calls for tryptic soy agar with polysorbate and lecithin (TSApl) for bacteria and malt extract agar (MEA) for fungi. In contrast, the Controlled Environment Testing Association (CETA), the professional organization for individuals who certify hoods and clean rooms, states in its 2012 certification application guide (http://www.cetainternational.org/reference/CAG-009v3.pdf?sid=1267) that a single-plate method is acceptable, implying that it is not always necessary to use an additional medium specifically for fungi. In this study, we reviewed 5.5 years of data from our laboratory to determine the utility of TSApl versus yeast malt extract agar (YMEA) for the isolation of fungi. Our findings, from 2,073 air samples obtained from compounding pharmacies, demonstrated that the YMEA yielded >2.5 times more fungal isolates than TSApl.