A FUNGUS that killed an Alfred Hospital patient
has struck two patients at another Melbourne hospital.

    
An Austin and Repatriation Hospital transplant patient died and a cancer patient is recovering after contact with the fungus. Authorities suspect the cases are linked to extensive building work at the hospital since July, that has stirred up dust. Hospital officials said yesterday they were taking every measure to shield patients from the fungus, called Aspergillus. The sickest patients were being moved from ward to ward if twice-weekly air samples show fungus "hotspots", they said.
Doors near excavation work had been sealed, with airlocks built around others to repel dust. The Aspergillus fungus is common and doesn't affect healthy people. Air filters usually keep it out of hospitals to protect patients with immune-system problems. Austin Hospital infectious disease director Professor Lindsay Grayson confirmed a patient had died in September after contact with the fungus. "It was one of our very, very sickest transplant patients," Professor Grayson said.

It was not clear where the patient had picked up the germ but the hospital was assuming the worst, he said. It had investigated the man's death closely but had decided it was not necessary to refer it to the coroner. Professor Grayson confirmed a seriously ill cancer patient at the hospital was also put on anti-fungal drugs last week. He said the hospital had taken every step possible to ensure building works didn't increase fungus levels in wards. The hospital had spent heavily installing extra filters and taking twice-weekly air samples, Professor Grayson said. Building workers had been instructed to spray the excavation site constantly to minimise dust, he said.

Professor Grayson said air samples had revealed "occasional blips" in air quality, but generally fungus levels had been kept low. If test results showed problem levels, the hospital's sickest patients were moved, he said. Professor Grayson said about five patients probably became infected with the fungus at most Melbourne hospitals each year. "It's something that happens . . . it affects the weakest of the weak, and anyone with a cancer unit or transplant unit will get these cases," he said.

The Alfred revealed this week that the coroner was investigating the death of a patient after fungal spores leaked into the intensive care unit. Five patients have been transferred to a makeshift ward away from the unit. A hospital spokeswoman said that engineers were still trying to pinpoint and plug the leak.