Investigation on distribution of airborne fungi in outdoor environment in Tehran, Iran

Airborne fungi are responsible for the majority of fungal infections in humans and animals. Outdoor air markedly influences the prevalence of fungal spore levels in indoor air and thus, it is the major source of fungal infections in indoor environments especially in hospitalized individuals. Using a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental health science and engineering 2014-03, Vol.12, p.1
Main Authors: Shams-Ghahfarokhi, Masoomeh, Aghaei-Gharehbolagh, Sanaz, Aslani, Narges, Razzaghi-Abyaneh, Mehdi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Fungi
Indoor air quality
Metabolites
Public health
Studies
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
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Summary:Airborne fungi are responsible for the majority of fungal infections in humans and animals. Outdoor air markedly influences the prevalence of fungal spore levels in indoor air and thus, it is the major source of fungal infections in indoor environments especially in hospitalized individuals. Using a settle plate method, air sampling (1092 air samples from 93 sampling sites in 22 geographic regions of Tehran) was performed by exposing 90 mm settle plates containing Malt extract agar and Potato dextrose agar to the air for 30 min. A total of 6455 colonies belonging to 24 different fungal genera were isolated. Area V situated in the city center was the most contaminated region with 2523 fungal colonies (39.1%), while area IV in the West showed the least contamination rate (636 colonies; 9.8%). Airborne fungi isolated were classified into 4 classes including hyaline Hyphomycetes (53.5%), dematiaceous Hyphomycetes (41.6%), Zygomycetes (2.8%) and Coelomycetes (0.2%). Aspergillus (31.3%) was the most prominent isolated fungus followed by Cladosporium (22.1%), Penicillium (13.8%) and Alternaria (12.2%).
ISSN:2052-336X