The Influence of Carpeting, Human Activity and Number of Beds on Airborne Fungi Concentration in Hotel Bedrooms

Abstract

In urban environments, people spend about 90% of their time indoors, where strong indicators of air-borne contaminants have been found. Currently, there are no reports on the fungal presence and distribution in the air of hotel bedrooms. In this study, we assessed the presence of airborne fungi in bedrooms from three hotels and correlated with room characteristics. We sampled 100 L (L) of air from hotels in Nuevo León, Mexico, then fungi colony forming units (CFU) were measured and identification was made based on morphological features. Variables considered were the presence of carpet, number of beds, cleaning status for the room and floor number. Penicillium, Cladosporium and Aspergillus exhibited the highest CFU concentration and frequency. A slight tendency was observed towards lower fungi concentrations when rooms had been cleaned before sampling. Statistical differences were found between rooms with carpet vs. no carpet, and one vs. two beds. Furthermore, a correlation between floor number and fungi concentration was observed with correspondence to the hotels’ room assignment protocol. These findings offer new variables to take into consideration when designing and implementing preventive or corrective sanitization procedures to improve their efficiency and could be relevant for hotel bedrooms as well as any other type of room.

Culturable Airborne Fungi in Downtown Monterrey (Mexico) and Their Correlation with Air Pollution over a 12-Month Period

“…Air samples were taken using an AirTest ® device (LCB Food Safety, Boz, France). Following a previous report [19] a total of 50 L of air were impacted on Petri dishes containing Rose Bengal-malt extract-agar (RBME; BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). This media has offered us reliable and reproducible results while also slowing the fungal radial growth, allowing for better colony enumeration.…”

Research progress on distribution and exposure risk of microbial aerosols in animal houses

“…Closed indoor environments are more suitable for microbial growth and reproduction. About 85% of human activities are carried out indoors ( 28 ). Therefore, it is of importance to study the characteristics of indoor microbial aerosol.…”