Fungal spore concentrations in indoor and outdoor air in university libraries,and their variations in response to changes in meteorological variables |
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| Authors: | María Elena Báez Flores Pável Gaxiola Medina Sylvia Páz Díaz Camacho Magdalena de Jesús Uribe Beltrán María del Carmen De la Cruz Otero Ignacio Osuna Ramírez |
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| Affiliation: | Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Culiacán, México |
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| Abstract: | The fungal spore concentration (FSC) in the air poses a risk for human health. This work studied the FSC in university libraries and how it is affected by environmental factors. A total of 347 samples were obtained using a Microbio MB2® Aerosol Sampler. The wind speed (WS), cross wind (CW), temperature (T), relative humidity (HR), barometric pressure (BP) and dew point (DP) were recorded using a Kestrel® 4500 weather station. The median indoor/outdoor FSC was 360/1230?CFU?m?3. FSC correlated inversely with BP, HR and DP; and positively with WS and CW; whereas T showed negative or positive correlation with FSC, depending on the region or sampling time. Eleven fungal genera were found and the dominant isolates were identified as Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus tamarii and Aspergillus oryzae. All fungi identified are known to be allergenic. It was concluded that environmental variables can influence the air FSC in different ways. |
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| Keywords: | indoor and outdoor air airborne fungal spores microbial air quality fungi and environmental variables bioaerosols |
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