A three-year-survey of microfungi in the air of Copenhagen 1977-79

Abstract

The presence and prevalence of common saprophytic airborne microfungi has been studied. Since August 1977 culturable microfungi in the outdoor air of Copenhagen have been monitored. The method used is a volumetric analysis by means of a Biap Slit-Sampler. The microfungal flora was dominated by very few genera, thus Cladosporium, Alternaria, Penicillium and Aspergillus make up 86.8% of the organisms collected. The mere number of microfungal spores might be misleading as a guide to the relative importance of atmospheric allergens. An alternative or a supplementary parameters could be the spore substance expressed as cubic spore substance/m3 of air, as suggested by Hyde (20). Most fungi show a seasonal dependence as well as fluctuations from year to year. The high season for living microfungi is found to be from June until October. The microfungi thus constitute a prolongation of the pollen season, a fact of importance in relation to patients suffering from inhalation-allergy.