Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 May;40(16):2902-2910.
doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.01.011.

Culturability and concentration of indoor and outdoor airborne fungi in six single-family homes

Taekhee Lee  1 , Sergey A Grinshpun, Dainius Martuzevicius, Atin Adhikari, Carlos M Crawford, Tiina Reponen
Affiliations

Culturability and concentration of indoor and outdoor airborne fungi in six single-family homes

Taekhee Lee et al. Atmos Environ (1994). 2006 May.

Abstract

In this study, the culturability of indoor and outdoor airborne fungi was determined through long-term sampling (24-h) using a Button Personal Inhalable Aerosol Sampler. The air samples were collected during three seasons in six Cincinnati area homes that were free from moisture damage or visible mold. Cultivation and total microscopic enumeration methods were employed for the sample analysis. The geometric means of indoor and outdoor culturable fungal concentrations were 88 and 102 colony-forming units (CFU) m(-3), respectively, with a geometric mean of the I/O ratio equal to 0.66. Overall, 26 genera of culturable fungi were recovered from the indoor and outdoor samples. For total fungal spores, the indoor and outdoor geometric means were 211 and 605 spores m(-3), respectively, with a geometric mean of I/O ratio equal to 0.32. The identification revealed 37 fungal genera from indoor and outdoor samples based on the total spore analysis. Indoor and outdoor concentrations of culturable and total fungal spores showed significant correlations (r = 0.655, p<0.0001 and r = 0.633, p<0.0001, respectively). The indoor and outdoor median viabilities of fungi were 55% and 25%, respectively, which indicates that indoor environment provides more favorable survival conditions for the aerosolized fungi. Among the seasons, the highest indoor and outdoor culturability of fungi was observed in the fall. Cladosporium had a highest median value of culturability (38% and 33% for indoor and outdoor, respectively) followed by Aspergillus/Penicillium (9% and 2%) among predominant genera of fungi. Increased culturability of fungi inside the homes may have important implications because of the potential increase in the release of allergens from viable spores and pathogenicity of viable fungi on immunocompromised individuals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The box plot of indoor and outdoor culturability (%) for airborne fungi. The horizontal lines in the box plot from bottom to top indicate 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentiles. The circles indicates the 5th (lower circle) and 95th (upper circle) percentiles. N is the number of samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adhikari A, Martuzevicius D, Reponen T, Grinshpun SA, Cho S, Sivasubramani SK, Zhong W, Levin L, Kelly AL, St. Clair H, LeMasters G. Performance of the button personal inhalable sampler for the measurement of outdoor aeroallergens. Atmospheric Environment. 2003;37:4723–4733.
    1. Adhikari A, Sen MM, Gupta-Bhattacharya S, Chanda S. Airborne viable non-viable and allergenic fungi in a rural agricultural area of India: a 2-year study at five outdoor sampling stations. Science of the Total Environment. 2004;326:123–141. - PubMed
    1. Adhikari A, Reponen T, Grinshpun SA, Martuzevicius D, LeMasters G. Correlation of ambient inhalable bioaerosols with particulate matter and ozone: a two-year study. Environmental Pollution. 2005;140:16–28. - PubMed
    1. American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienes (ACGIH) Health effects of bioaerosols. Bioaerosols: Assessment and Control; Cincinnati, OH: 1999. Chapter 3.
    1. Burge HA. Fungi: toxic killers or unavoidable nuisance? Annals of Allergy, Asthma & immunology. 2001;87(6 Suppl 3):52–56. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources