Seasonal variation of airborne allergenic fungal spores in ambient PM10—a study in Guwahati, the largest city of north-east India

• Published in: Air quality, atmosphere and health atmosphere and health, 2019-01, Vol.12 (1), p.11-20
• Main Authors: Garaga, Rajyalakshmi, Avinash, C. K. R., Kota, Sri Harsha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergens; Aspergillus; Asthma; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Cladosporium; Correlation; Dominant species; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Flowers & plants; Fungi; Fusarium; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humidity; Monsoons; Night; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Penicillium; Precipitation; Respiratory diseases; Seasonal variations; Spores; Summer; Wind; Winter monsoon
• ISSN: 1873-9318; 1873-9326
• DOI: 10.1007/s11869-018-0624-y

Fungal spores in ambient particulate matter (PM) is one of the major constituents which can adversely affect human health. For the first time, an investigation was conducted for 1 year at a residential region in north-east India to study the seasonal variation of PM 10 -associated fungal spore concentration and their diversity. Using fine particulate sampler, samples were collected at 12 h intervals for 1 week of every month during July 2016–June 2017. Twelve-hour averaged PM 10 concentration was 79.74 μg/m 3 and 103.47 μg/m 3 during day and night time, respectively. Fungal spore concentration was 126 (54–294) CFU/m 3 during day time and 107 (55 to 161) CFU/m 3 during night time. Seven individual genera of fungal spores, namely Aspergillus , Penicillium , Cladosporium , Fusarium , Curvularia , Rhizopus , and Non-sporing isolates , were identified. Strong correlations between the Cladosporium and Penicillium ( R  = 0.83) and Cladosporium and Aspergillus ( R  = 0.82) were observed, which are well-known asthma allergens. Penicillium (30%), Fusarium (41%), and Aspergillus (25%) were the dominant fungi species in winter, monsoon, and summer seasons, respectively. Fungal spore concentrations peaked during summer and were least during monsoon. Fungal concentrations were negatively correlated with precipitation ( R  = − 0.25). Fungal counts had more significant positive correlation with temperature in non-rainy samples ( R  = 0.80), compared to negligible correlation ( R  = − 0.16) in all samples.