Airborne fungal spores in a cross-sectional study of office buildings

Airborne bacterial and PM characterization in intensive care units: correlations with physical control parameters

In this study, the spatial variation of airborne bacteria in intensive care units (ICUs) was characterized. Fine particulate matter and several physical parameters were also monitored including temperature and relative humidity. The results showed that the total bacterial load ranged between 20.4 and 134.3 CFU/m³ across the ICUs. Bacterial cultures of the collected samples did not isolate any multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli indicating the absence of such aerosolized pathogens in the ICUs. Meanwhile, particulate matter levels in several ICUs were found to exceed the international guidelines set for 24-h PM exposure. Moreover, examining bacterial load contribution by size suggested that bacteria with sizes less than 0.65 µm contributed the least to the total bacterial loads, while those with sizes between 0.65 and 1.1 µm contributed the most. A multiple linear regression model was also built to predict the bacterial loads in the ICUs. The regression analysis explained 77% of the variability observed in the measured bacterial concentrations. The model showed that the level of activity in the ICU rooms as well as its occupancy level had strong positive correlations with bacterial loads, while distance away from the patient had a non-linear relationship with measured loads. No statistically significant correlation was found between bacterial load and particulate matter concentrations.

Microbial communities associated with house dust

House dust is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic material with microbes in abundance. Few microbial species are actually able to grow and proliferate in dust and only if enough moisture is provided. Hence, most of the microbial content originates from sources other than the dust itself. The most important sources of microbes in house dust are outdoor air and other outdoor material tracked into the buildings, occupants of the buildings including pets and microbial growth on moist construction materials. Based on numerous cultivation studies, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, and about 20 other fungal genera are the most commonly isolated genera from house dust. The cultivable bacterial flora is dominated by Gram-positive genera, such as Staplylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Lactococcus. Culture-independent studies have shown that both the fungal and the bacterial flora are far more diverse, with estimates of up to 500-1000 different species being present in house dust. Concentrations of microbes in house dust vary from nondetectable to 10(9) cells g(-1) dust, depending on the dust type, detection method, type of the indoor environment and season, among other factors. Microbial assemblages in different house dust types usually share the same core species; however, alterations in the composition are caused by differing sources of microbes for different dust types. For example, mattress dust is dominated by species originating from the user of the mattress, whereas floor dust reflects rather outdoor sources. Farming homes contain higher microbial load than urban homes and according to a recent study, temperate climate zones show higher dust microbial diversity than tropical zones.

The Evaluation of Indoor Microbial Air Quality in Two New Commissioning Higher Educational Buildings in Johor, Malaysia

The proliferation of indoor airborne microorganism in public institutional buildings such as schools and universities is often regarded as a potential health hazards to the buildings’ users. This issue is not new in Malaysia, a country with humid climate which favours the growth of microorganism. However, there is lack of research’s data, especially in higher institutional buildings in this country. The assessment of the indoor air quality is conducted in a university’s two new commissioning buildings located at Southern Peninsular of Malaysia. Both buildings utilized centralized air conditioning system. Concentrations of airborne microorganism were determined using a single-stage impacter (biosampler) as per requirement of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Manual Analytical Method 0800. The acquired readings were compared to the standard level determined in Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality (ICOP IAQ) 2010. Other parameters such as relative humidity, temperature, and air velocity were recorded along the assessment. The mean concentrations of the total bacteria at the affected area of the two buildings are 1102.5 CFU/m3 and 813 CFU/m3 respectively and it is significantly higher compared to the maximum exposure limit of 500 CFU/m3. While, the mean concentration of total fungi at the affected area for two buildings are 805.7 CFU/m3 and 509 CFU/m3 respectively which are both higher than the reading of outdoors and unaffected indoor area although slightly lower than the maximum exposure limit of 1000 CFU/m3. This study provides a glance of the poor indoor microbiological air quality in new higher institutional buildings in this humid region.

Indoor fungi: companions and contaminants

This review discusses the role of fungi and fungal products in indoor environments, especially as agents of human exposure. Fungi are present everywhere, and knowledge for indoor environments is extensive on their occurrence and ecology, concentrations, and determinants. Problems of dampness and mold have dominated the discussion on indoor fungi. However, the role of fungi in human health is still not well understood. In this review, we take a look back to integrate what cultivation-based research has taught us alongside more recent work with cultivation-independent techniques. We attempt to summarize what is known today and to point out where more data is needed for risk assessment associated with indoor fungal exposures. New data have demonstrated qualitative and quantitative richness of fungal material inside and outside buildings. Research on mycotoxins shows that just as microbes are everywhere in our indoor environments, so too are their metabolic products. Assessment of fungal exposures is notoriously challenging due to the numerous factors that contribute to the variation of fungal concentrations in indoor environments. We also may have to acknowledge and incorporate into our understanding the complexity of interactions between multiple biological agents in assessing their effects on human health and well-being.

The effect of environmental parameters on the survival of airborne infectious agents

The successful transmission of infection via the airborne route relies on several factors, including the survival of the airborne pathogen in the environment as it travels between susceptible hosts. This review summarizes the various environmental factors (particularly temperature and relative humidity) that may affect the airborne survival of viruses, bacteria and fungi, with the aim of highlighting specific aspects of environmental control that may eventually enhance the aerosol or airborne infection control of infectious disease transmission within hospitals.

The effect of environmental parameters on the survival of airborne infectious agents

The successful transmission of infection via the airborne route relies on several factors, including the survival of the airborne pathogen in the environment as it travels between susceptible hosts. This review summarizes the various environmental factors (particularly temperature and relative humidity) that may affect the airborne survival of viruses, bacteria and fungi, with the aim of highlighting specific aspects of environmental control that may eventually enhance the aerosol or airborne infection control of infectious disease transmission within hospitals.

Verifying interpretive criteria for bioaerosol data using (bootstrap) Monte Carlo techniques

A number of interpretive descriptors have been proposed for bioaerosol data due to the lack of health-based numerical standards, but very few have been verified as to their ability to describe a suspect indoor environment. Culturable and nonculturable (spore trap) sampling using the bootstrap version of Monte Carlo simulation (BMC) at several sites during 2003-2006 served as a source of indoor and outdoor data to test various criteria with regard to their variability in characterizing an indoor or outdoor environment. The purpose was to gain some insight for the reliability of some of the interpretive criteria in use as well as to demonstrate the utility of BMC methods as a generalized technique for validation of various interpretive criteria for bioaerosols. The ratio of nonphylloplane (NP) fungi (total of Aspergillus and Penicillium) to phylloplane (P) fungi (total of Cladosporium, Alternaria, and Epicoccum), or NP/P, is a descriptor that has been used to identify "dominance" of nonphylloplane fungi (NP/P > 1.0), assumed to be indicative of a problematic indoor environment. However, BMC analysis of spore trap and culturable bioaerosol data using the NP/P ratio identified frequent dominance by nonphylloplane fungi in outdoor air. Similarly, the NP/P descriptor indicated dominance of nonphylloplane fungi in buildings with visible mold growth and/or known water intrusion with a frequency often in the range of 0.5 Fixed numerical criteria for spore trap data of 900 and 1300 spores/m(3) for total spores and 750 Aspergillus/Penicillium spores/m(3) exhibited similar variability, as did ratios of nonphylloplane to total fungi, phylloplane to total fungi, and indoor/outdoor ratios for total fungal spores. Analysis of bioaerosol data by BMC indicates that numerical levels or descriptors based on dominance of certain fungi are unreliable as criteria for characterizing a given environment. The utility of BMC analysis lies in its generalized application to test mathematically the validity of any given descriptor or criterion for bioaerosols, which can be an important tool in quantifying the uncertainty in interpreting bioaerosol data.

Assessing total fungal concentrations on commercial passenger aircraft using mixed-effects modeling

The primary objective of this study was to compare airborne fungal concentrations onboard commercial passenger aircraft at various in-flight times with concentrations measured inside and outside airport terminals. A secondary objective was to investigate the use of mixed-effects modeling of repeat measures from multiple sampling intervals and locations. Sequential triplicate culturable and total spore samples were collected on wide-body commercial passenger aircraft (n = 12) in the front and rear of coach class during six sampling intervals: boarding, midclimb, early cruise, midcruise, late cruise, and deplaning. Comparison samples were collected inside and outside airport terminals at the origin and destination cities. The MIXED procedure in SAS was used to model the mean and the covariance matrix of the natural log transformed fungal concentrations. Five covariance structures were tested to determine the appropriate models for analysis. Fixed effects considered included the sampling interval and, for samples obtained onboard the aircraft, location (front/rear of coach section), occupancy rate, and carbon dioxide concentrations. Overall, both total culturable and total spore fungal concentrations were low while the aircraft were in flight. No statistical difference was observed between measurements made in the front and rear sections of the coach cabin for either culturable or total spore concentrations. Both culturable and total spore concentrations were significantly higher outside the airport terminal compared with inside the airport terminal (p-value < 0.0001) and inside the aircraft (p-value < 0.0001). On the aircraft, the majority of total fungal exposure occurred during the boarding and deplaning processes, when the aircraft utilized ancillary ventilation and passenger activity was at its peak.