Microbiological and total particles suspended indoor air quality at the Universidad Iberoamericana Torreón

Abstract

Indoor air quality was analyzed in the period from 2016 to 2019, in the Universidad Iberoamericana Torreón, with the objective of determining if it complied with the reference norms: ISO 14644- 1-2015 and UNE 100012:2005; due to in Mexico there are no applicable norms for the monitoring or indication of the Maximum Permissible Limits to determine indoor air quality. Methodology applied was focused on: 1) Determining the PSTs (from 0.3 to 10 µm) using a FLUKE particle counter; 2) Microbiological analysis; 3) Identifying isolated strains and 4) Calculating origin and wind intensity using a METPAK II climatological data and a WRPLOT software. PST and microbiological concentrations were found to be above the standards used. PS0.3 showed a significant difference (p<0.05) in the Auditorium, which had the highest concentrations in 2019 of evening schedule. Some of the biological material were identified as: 1) pathogenic bacteria of the genera Salmonella, Klebisella and Escherichia, and 2) fungi of the genera Aspergillus, Trichophyton and Candida; whose exposure could produce different allergies, asthma, develop respiratory symptoms, chronic cough, laryngitis, sinusitis and urticaria.