Prevalence of microfungi in Finnish cow barns and some aspects of the occurrence of Wallemia sebi and Fusaria

Abstract

Hanhela R, Louhelainen K, Pasanen A-L. Prevalence of microfungi in Finnish cow barns and some aspects of the occurrence of Wallemia sebi and Fusaria. Scand J Work Environ Health 1995;21:223--8. Objectives The occurrence of microfungi in the air and in feeding and bedding materials was studied on 32 Finnish dairy farms. Methods Air samples for determining viable and total spore concentrations were collected on membrane filters and with a cascade impactor. Genera of mesophilic, xerophilic, and thermophilic fungi were identified in four culture media. Total spore counts were done with the aid of an epifluorescence microscope. To identify fungal flora in agricultural materials, feeding and bedding material samples were also taken from the farms. Results The airborne spore concentrations varied for viable mesophilic, xerophilic, and ther mophilic fungi from 10' to lo7 colony-forming units per cubic meter, and for total spores from lo5 to lo7 spores per cubic meter. Asl~ergillus, Perzicilliur?z, Cladosporiunz, Absidia species, Wclllenzin sebi and yeasts were the predominant fungi in the air, as well as in the material samples. C O~C~U S~O~S In general, the airborne spore concentrations were high although the variation in the concentrations of different fungal groups was large between the farms. Along with using new growth media, two fungi whose prevalence was earlier poorly known in Finland were detected. W sebi proved to be the most abundant xerophilic fungi in the air and hay samples, while Fusariunz spp were very common in grain and straw but rare in air.

Farmers’ exposure to dusts and gases in modern Finnish cubicle cow houses

“…The obvious reason for this is the closed space, which prevents air from the cow barn from entering the parlor. The prevalences of the predominant fungi ( Aspergillus, Penicillium, Wallemia sebi, Cladosporium and yeasts) were similar to those found in earlier Finnish study (Hanhela et al 1995). In addition, in this study Paecilomyces was found more frequently.…”

Assessing the Abundance of Airborne Fungi in a Dairy Cattle Barn

“…Many authors report on CFU density in cattle barns being orders of magnitude higher than that found in our study. Blom et al [28] have determined CFU concentrations in calf barns as 10 [15]. The spore densities found in our study were as high as 1,693 CFU/m 3 in winter and 3,614 CFU/m 3 during summer.…”

Molecular Analysis of Bacterial and Circovirus Bioaerosols in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

“…In contrast, previous CAFO bioaerosol studies based on culture counts concluded that fungi contributed a sizable portion of the overall observed (via culture) airborne ecology (Hanhela et al 1995;Chang et al 2001;Adhikari et al 2004a,b;Jo and Kang 2005;Chi and Li 2005;Lee et al 2006;Kim et al 2008). This conclusion based on culture, however, is not supported by our results.…”