Airborne Fungal Spores in a Cross-Sectional Study of Office Buildings

MacIntosh, David L.; Brightman, Howard S.; Baker, Brian J.; Myatt, Theodore A.; Stewart, James; McCarthy, John F.

doi:10.1080/10543400600760438

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…(20) The BASE study collected six indoor Burkard spore trap samples from each of 44 buildings and reported a median total concentration of 55 spores/m 3 and an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.57. (15) The median total spore concentration for samples collected on board the aircraft was 52 spores/m 3 , which was similar to the BASE study result even though the aircraft samples were collected during a single season (i.e., summer) and the BASE samples were collected during all four seasons.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

“…(14) In many cases, mixed-effects modeling is used to analyze repeat measures from an individual, but it can also be applied to repeat measures from a sampling location. (15) The objectives of this research were to create a baseline of total fungi (culturable and total spore) concentrations on wide-body commercial passenger aircraft; test specific hypotheses on cabin location and different in-flight time periods; investigate the use of mixed-effects modeling techniques and covariance models; and estimate variability for total fungi in the aircraft environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing Total Fungal Concentrations on Commercial Passenger Aircraft Using Mixed-Effects Modeling

McKernan

Hein

Wallingford

et al. 2007

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

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The primary objective of this study was to compare airborne fungal concentrations onboard commercial passenger aircraft at various in-flight times with concentrations measured inside and outside airport terminals. A secondary objective was to investigate the use of mixed-effects modeling of repeat measures from multiple sampling intervals and locations. Sequential triplicate culturable and total spore samples were collected on wide-body commercial passenger aircraft (n = 12) in the front and rear of coach class during six sampling intervals: boarding, midclimb, early cruise, midcruise, late cruise, and deplaning. Comparison samples were collected inside and outside airport terminals at the origin and destination cities. The MIXED procedure in SAS was used to model the mean and the covariance matrix of the natural log transformed fungal concentrations. Five covariance structures were tested to determine the appropriate models for analysis. Fixed effects considered included the sampling interval and, for samples obtained onboard the aircraft, location (front/rear of coach section), occupancy rate, and carbon dioxide concentrations. Overall, both total culturable and total spore fungal concentrations were low while the aircraft were in flight. No statistical difference was observed between measurements made in the front and rear sections of the coach cabin for either culturable or total spore concentrations. Both culturable and total spore concentrations were significantly higher outside the airport terminal compared with inside the airport terminal (p-value < 0.0001) and inside the aircraft (p-value < 0.0001). On the aircraft, the majority of total fungal exposure occurred during the boarding and deplaning processes, when the aircraft utilized ancillary ventilation and passenger activity was at its peak.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Total Fungal Concentrations on Commercial Passenger Aircraft Using Mixed-Effects Modeling

McKernan

Hein

Wallingford

et al. 2007

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These limited exposure assessment strategies do not accurately reflect the potential exposures of occupants because of temporal variability in airborne concentrations. MacIntosh et al 8 used a limited number of samples per day at each sample site to better understand the within-building variability. Although this was an important study in assessing spatial differences between regions of the continental United States, this study shows the diurnal and seasonal changes that can be expected during bioaerosol monitoring.…”

Section: Particulate Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Airborne fungal concentrations may vary by season and environmental conditions. 8 MacIntosh et al 8 assessed building-to-building variability in airborne concentrations of fungal spores through the use of Burkard spore traps at 44 office buildings across the United States as a part of the Building Assessment, Survey, and Evaluation (BASE) study. Their sampling strategy consisted of three short-term (4-min) indoor samples and one outdoor sample in both the morning and afternoon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and Diurnal Variability in Airborne Mold from an Indoor Residential Environment in Northern New York

LeBouf

Yesse

Rossner

2008

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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It is well known that characterization of airborne bioaerosols in indoor environments is a challenge because of inherent irregularity in concentrations, which are influenced by many environmental factors. The primary aim of this study was to quantify the day-to-day variability of airborne fungal levels in a single residential environment over multiple seasons. Indoor air quality practitioners must recognize the inherent variability in airborne bioaerosol measurements during data analysis of mold investigations. Changes in airborne fungi due to varying season and day is important to recognize when considering health impacts of these contaminants and when establishing effective controls. Using an Andersen N6 impactor, indoor and outdoor bioaerosol samples were collected on malt extract agar plates for 18 weekdays and 19 weekdays in winter and summer, respectively. Interday and intraday variability for the bioaerosols were determined for each sampler. Average fungal concentrations were 26 times higher during the summer months. Day-to-day fungal samples showed a relatively high inconsistency suggesting airborne fungal levels are very episodic and are influenced by several environmental factors. Summer bioaerosol variability ranged from 7 to 36% and winter variability from 24 to 212%; these should be incorporated into results of indoor mold investigations. The second objective was to observe the relationship between biological and nonbiological particulate matter (PM). No correlation was observed between biological and nonbiological PM. Six side-by-side particulate samplers collected coarse PM (PM 10 ) and fine PM (PM 2.5 ) levels in both seasons. PM 2.5 particulate concentrations were found to be statistically higher during summer months. Interday variability observed during this study suggests that indoor air quality practitioners must adjust their exposure assessment strategies to reflect the temporal variability in bioaerosol concentrations.

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“…Many studies regarding to indoor microbiological air quality have been conducted [9][10][11][12][13]. However, the data of the assessment of indoor microbial contamination in Malaysia or other Southeast Asian countries which share common hot and humid climate was very limited [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evaluation of Indoor Microbial Air Quality in Two New Commissioning Higher Educational Buildings in Johor, Malaysia

Sunar

Leman

et al. 2015

AMM

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The proliferation of indoor airborne microorganism in public institutional buildings such as schools and universities is often regarded as a potential health hazards to the buildings’ users. This issue is not new in Malaysia, a country with humid climate which favours the growth of microorganism. However, there is lack of research’s data, especially in higher institutional buildings in this country. The assessment of the indoor air quality is conducted in a university’s two new commissioning buildings located at Southern Peninsular of Malaysia. Both buildings utilized centralized air conditioning system. Concentrations of airborne microorganism were determined using a single-stage impacter (biosampler) as per requirement of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Manual Analytical Method 0800. The acquired readings were compared to the standard level determined in Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality (ICOP IAQ) 2010. Other parameters such as relative humidity, temperature, and air velocity were recorded along the assessment. The mean concentrations of the total bacteria at the affected area of the two buildings are 1102.5 CFU/m3 and 813 CFU/m3 respectively and it is significantly higher compared to the maximum exposure limit of 500 CFU/m3. While, the mean concentration of total fungi at the affected area for two buildings are 805.7 CFU/m3 and 509 CFU/m3 respectively which are both higher than the reading of outdoors and unaffected indoor area although slightly lower than the maximum exposure limit of 1000 CFU/m3. This study provides a glance of the poor indoor microbiological air quality in new higher institutional buildings in this humid region.

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Airborne Fungal Spores in a Cross-Sectional Study of Office Buildings

Cited by 13 publications

References 23 publications

Assessing Total Fungal Concentrations on Commercial Passenger Aircraft Using Mixed-Effects Modeling

Assessing Total Fungal Concentrations on Commercial Passenger Aircraft Using Mixed-Effects Modeling

Seasonal and Diurnal Variability in Airborne Mold from an Indoor Residential Environment in Northern New York

The Evaluation of Indoor Microbial Air Quality in Two New Commissioning Higher Educational Buildings in Johor, Malaysia

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