Assessment of fungal aerosols in a public library with natural ventilation

Abstract

Fungal aerosols deteriorate library collections and can impact human health, mainly via respiratory diseases. Their spread is influenced by factors such as temperature and relative humidity. This study aims to assess the concentration of fungal aerosols in the interior environment of the Popular Library of Gaira in the District of Santa Marta, Colombia, using a two-stage cascade impactor utilizing Sabouraud dextrose agar on Petri dishes for the collection of samples. The sampler was positioned at 1.5 m above ground level, operated with a flow rate of 28.3 l/min for 4 min and thermo-hygrometric conditions were also recorded. Concentrations in the air of up to 1197.0 CFU/m3 were reported, with a mean value close to 150 CFU/m3. Higher values during the morning samples were noted. Seven genera of fungi were found, Aspergillus and Curvularia were the most abundant. The temperature was between 30.80 and 33.51 °C, and the relative humidity was between 62.61 and 64.80%. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between the fungal aerosol concentration and relative humidity, where an increase of 10% in moisture could double the fungal aerosol concentration. We concluded that potentially favorable conditions exist indoors for the growth and survival of the following fungi: Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Curvularia, and to a lesser extent for Chrysonilia, Cunninghamella, and Paecylomices. Relative humidity was seen to be the factor that affects the concentration of aerosols fungal in the library most significantly.

Fungal diversity in environments of repository of the national archive of the Republic of Cuba from the 80s to 2022

“…macrocarpum, Cl. tenuissimum, P. digitatum, P. implicatum, P. oxalicum, P. simplicissimum), were reported in Brazilian library environments by Leite Jr. et al 37,109 Likewise, some Aspergillus species isolated in the NARC environment (A. candidus, A. flavus, A. glaucus, A. niger, A. ochraceus, A. versicolor) were recently detected in a Colombian library, 114 and many of the species of these three genera have been reported by other authors in archive and library of other countries, 66,67,74,82,84 as well as in museums. 73 Among the rare species detected before the year 2000 is Cladosporium werneckii Horta, which was reported by Vaillant et al 115 It has been known that it was later classified as Hortaea werneckii (Horta) Nishim.…”

“…This result was expected since most of its repositories have natural cross ventilation and outdoor air is considered by many authors to be the largest source of fungal propagules in indoor environments. 74,114,130,151,152…”

A Comparison of Models for the Forecast of Daily Concentration Thresholds of Airborne Fungal Spores

“…The study of primary biological aerosol particles increases their importance, especially those focused on identifying and quantifying fungal spores [1]. The increasing interest in the utility of fungi as aerobiological particles is usually linked to agriculture and public health, as their presence is linked to phytopathological and allergological diseases [2][3][4]. A review of the spectrum of airborne fungal spores in Europe identified 67 taxa, where Alternaria and Cladosporium were the most common taxa studied due to their spores reporting the highest concentrations in northern Europe [5].…”