Assessment of Gut Fungi and Haematological Parameters of Patients with Different Blood Glucose Levels in Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa

This study examined gut fungi and haematological parameters in 20 patients with varying blood glucose levels separated into diabetic (≥7.0 mmol/L, n=9), pre-diabetic (5.6-6.9 mmol/L, n=8), and normal (3.9-5.5 mmol/L, n=3) groups. Fungal species and haematological parameters were analyzed using molecular and standard methods. Total fungal populations were comparable across all three groups; mean Log spore forming unit (sfu) per gram of stool of patients with varying glucose levels were 5.08±0.21 (diabetic), 5.00±0.37 (pre-diabetic) and 4.96±0.14 (normal). Three fungal species, Chaetomium spp., Fusarium equistei and Fusarium oxysporum were identified inall patients. Fungal species populations were separately comparable across all three groups except Fusarium oxysporum which was significantly (P≤0.05) higher in patients with normal glucose levels than other groups. In contrast, haemoglobin (g/dL), mean corpuscular volume (fL), and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (pg) were separately lower in persons with normal glucose levels than diabetic and pre-diabetic patients. Fusarium oxysporum was positively correlated to lymphocytes (r2 = 0.62) and negatively correlated with haematocrit (r2 = -0.52) and neutrophils (r2 = -0.51). Fusarium equistei was inversely correlated with glucose (r2 = -0.59) and monocytes (r2 = -0.46) while being positively related to mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (r2 = 0.47). Chaetomium spp. was negatively related to red blood cell (r2 = -0.91). The observed significant (P≤0.05) correlations between fungal populations, glucose, and haematological parameters suggest that gut fungi are involved in human health.