Size distributions of airborne microbes in moisture-damaged and reference school buildings of two construction types |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Division of Environmental Health, National Public Health Institute, P.O. Box 95, FIN-70701 Kuopio, Finland;2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kuopio, P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland;3. Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 670056, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056, USA;4. The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Department of Health Evaluation Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA;1. Fachgebiet Nanotechnologie, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 1, D-98693 Ilmenau, Germany;2. Fachgebiet Nanobiosystemtechnik, Institut für Chemie und Biotechnik, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Prof. Schmidt Str. 26, D-98693 Ilmenau, Germany;1. Koneru Lakshamaiah Education Foundation, Green Fields, Vaddeswaram, Guntur District 522502, Andhra Pradesh, India;2. JNTU Anantapur, Department of Civil Engineering, Ananthapuram 515002, Andhra Pradesh, India;1. Sunnybrook Research Institute, 2075 Bayview Avenue suite B103, Toronto, ON M4N 3M1, Canada;2. Public Health Ontario, 661 University Avenue, Suite 1701, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada;3. Sunnybrook Research Institute, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4N 3M1, Canada;4. National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington Street, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3R2, Canada;5. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Rm 366C 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada;6. Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 223 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R4, Canada |
| |
| Abstract: | Any risk assessment of moisture-damaged buildings requires an accurate characterization of the factors contributing to the human exposure. In this study, the size distributions of indoor air viable fungi and bacteria and average mean diameters of the most common fungi in school buildings were determined. One special focus was to analyze how the microbial size distributions are affected by the building frame (either wooden or concrete) and moisture damage in the building. The study was performed in 32 school buildings classified as moisture-damaged (index) and non-damaged (reference) schools according to technical building investigations. Sampling for indoor air microbes was carried out using a cascade impactor that collects particles on six stages (range from 0.65 to >7 μm) according to their aerodynamic diameters. Both wooden and concrete schools had their highest fungal levels in the size range of 1.1–4.7 μm. However, the concentrations of fungi in all size classes were higher in wooden schools than in concrete schools. Moisture damage-associated differences in size distribution, in the particle size range of 1.1–2.1 μm, were seen in concrete schools but not in wooden schools. In general, the average geometric mean diameter (dg,ave) of total viable fungi was smaller in wooden schools than in concrete schools, and smaller in index schools of both construction types than in their reference schools. Variation in particle size, however, by genus was observed. No differences in particle size distributions of viable airborne bacteria were found. Our results on the dependency of the particle size on the building type and presence of moisture damage provide an interesting point to be considered in assessing the complex issue of indoor-related bioaerosol exposures. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
