Fungi in indoor air - Determination of mesophilic and thermo-tolerant fungi in indoor air using occupational standards on bioaerosols
Engelhart, S. and Exner, M.
2002 Gefahrstoffe Reinhaltung Der Luft, 62 (3): 79-82
Respiratory health, home dampness, children, molds, symptoms, sampler, spores
Engelhart, S. and Exner, M., (2002), "Fungi in indoor air - Determination of mesophilic and thermo-tolerant fungi in indoor air using occupational standards on bioaerosols", Gefahrstoffe Reinhaltung Der Luft, 62 (3): 79-82.
Abstract:
Several methods are available for the measurement of airborne viable fungi, however, there is still a lack of standardization. The purpose of this pilot study was to apply the recommendations of the German occupational standard TRBA (Technische Regeln fir biologische Arbeitsstoffe) 430 to the conditions of non-industrial indoor environments and to compare two filter-based methods (Sortorius MD 8/repeated short-term sampling vs. GSP/long-term sampling) for determination of mesophilic and thermotolerant fungi in indoor air. Mesophilic fungi varied from 2 x 10(1) to 3 x 10(2) CFU/m(3), with the relative recovery of the GSP (vs. MD 8) method being 101.1%. Thermotolerant-fungi varied from 3 x 10(0) to 4 x 10(1) CFU/m(3), with the relative recovery of the GSP method being 99.6%. After logarithmic transformation, the MD 8 and the GSP method showed a very good correlation for mesophitic (Pearson's r = 0.97) and a moderate correlation for thermotolerant fungi (Pearson's r = 0.75), which was probably due to the low absolute counts. There was no correlation between mesophilic and thermotolerant counts. It is concluded that both sampling methods as recommended by the occupational standard TRBA 430 can efficiently be applied to survey fungal exposure under the conditions of non-industrial indoor environments.