Black Aspergillus species isolated from clinical and environmental samples in Iran

Members of the genus Aspergillus are common environmental saprophytes, making up to 40 % of fungal communities in indoor and outdoor environments (Manuel & Kibbler, 1998). They are natural inhabitants of soil, water and organic debris, and are rarely pathogenic to healthy hosts; however, they can be fatal opportunistic agents in immunocompromised patients and other susceptible hosts (Barton, 2013). The genus Aspergillus is divided into several groups, including Aspergillus section Nigri, commonly known as the black aspergilli (Gams et al., 1986) that includes several environmental species (Klich, 2009), some of which have been implicated in human and animal disease (Abarca et al., 2004). After various revisions, the number of accepted species within this section is ,26, including several species which have been described recently (Perrone et al., 2011).