Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Abstract
Indoor air contains a complex mixture of bioaerosols such as fungi, bacteria and allergens, as well as non-biological
particles including products from various combustion processes. To date little work has been done to investigate the
interactions and associations between particles of biological and non-biological origin, however, any occurring
interactions could affect pollutant behaviour in the air and ultimately the effect they have on health. The aim of this
work was to examine associations between the concentration levels of airborne particles and fungi measured in 14
residential suburban houses in Brisbane. The most frequently isolated fungal genus was Cladosporium, Curvularia,
Alternaria, Fusarium and Penicillium. The average outdoor and indoor (living room) concentrations of fungal colony
forming units were 1133"759 and 810"389, respectively. Average outdoor and indoor (normal ventilation)
concentrations of submicrometre and supermicrometre particles were 23.8=103 and 21.7=103 (particlesycm3 ), 1.78
and 1.74 (particlesycm3 ), respectively. The study showed that no statistically significant associations between the
fungal spore and submicrometre particle concentrations or PM2.5 were present, while a weak but statistically significant
relationship was found between fungal and supermicrometre particle concentrations (for the outdoors R 2s0.4, Ps
0.03 and for a living room R 2s0.3, Ps0.04). A similarity in behaviour between the submicrometre particle and
fungal spore concentrations was that the fungal spore concentrations were related directly to the distance from the
source (a nearby park), in a very similar way in which the submicrometre particles originating from vehicle emissions
from a road, were dependent on the distance to the road. In the immediate proximity to the park, fungal concentrations
rose up to ;3100 CFUym3, whereas for houses more than 150 m away from the park the concentrations of fungi
were below 1000 CFUym3. Recommendations have been provided as the future study designs to gain a deeper insight
into the relationships between biological and non-biological particles.
䊚 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
0048-9697/03/$ - see front matter 䊚 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0048-9697(03)00169-4
90 M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101
of 10 000–50 000 Dalton occurring on the sur- and fungi concentrations. As such, it was a pilot
face of the fungal spore. analytical study into the science of interactions
A large number of studies have linked exposure between biological and non-biological particles.
to airborne fungi with various health effects. For The expectation was that any findings from this
example, an indoor air study in Finland found that study would improve the scientific understanding
exposure to airborne indoor fungi increased the of the interactions, and would help to advance the
risk for respiratory symptoms and infections by a designs of any future studies in this field. The
factor of two (Nevalainen, 1999). Although the outcomes were not, however, intended for a direct
mechanisms involved are not totally understood, application in human exposure or epidemiologic
they include allergic, infectious and toxic reactions. study. Future application in such areas would be
More than 80 genera of fungi have been associated possible when better scientific understanding on
with symptoms of respiratory tract allergies (Hor- the interactions and associations was developed.
ner et al., 1995). Cladosporium, Alternaria, Asper- In particular, the existence of associations may on
gillus and Fusarium are amongst the most common one hand point out to the similarities in the
allergenic genera. Metabolites of fungi including behaviour between biological and non-biological
toxins and volatile organic compounds are also particles in the air, and on the other hand could
believed to irritate the respiratory system. In a help identifying interactions occurring between
study examining fungi and home factors in Kansas these two types of particles. While this would not
(USA), elevated concentrations of Cladosporium serve to directly define any relationship between
were frequently associated with respiratory symp- non-viable particles and fungal allergens, it was
toms (Su et al., 1992). Similarly, a comparison considered that fungal allergens would be present
study of allergic and non-allergic children in Tai- in the air in direct proportion to the numbers of
wan founded that higher concentration of Clados- cultivable fungal spores, particularly those known
porium and Penicillium existed in the homes of to have an allergenic effect. Thus, a relationship
the allergic children (Li et al., 1995). between particles and allergens could be inferred
The work presented here is a part of a larger from an observed relationship between particles
study focused primarily on fine and ultra-fine and fungal spores.
particles in indoor air and on outdoor to indoor The strength and uniqueness of the study are in:
penetration of particles in residential suburban sampling of both biological and non-biological
houses in Brisbane, for different building types particles, using the state of the art methods for
and ventilation characteristics (Morawska et al., real time measurements of non-biological particles,
2001). Number distributions and concentrations of and thus obtaining time series of particle concen-
all airborne particles in 14 houses were measured trations, as well as indooryoutdoor relationships
in the size range from 0.015 to 20 mm, as well as and an insight into spatial distributions of particles
approximation of PM2.5 fraction (mass concentra- within the house.
tion of particles with aerodynamic diameter smaller
that 2.5 mm). Biological particles investigation 2. Materials and methods
included concentrations of airborne fungi and con-
centrations of bacteria and allergen (dust mite, cat 2.1. House sample selection
and cockroach) in dust samples. Of these sampled
bioaerosols, this project focused mainly on fungi The sample of non-air conditioned houses for
and the findings in relation to fungal concentration this study was drawn from a suburb in Brisbane,
levels, and their relationship to house and environ- Australia. Selection of a single, reasonably flat
mental characteristics were presented elsewhere suburb ensured that all houses were subject to
(Hargreaves et al., 2001). The aim of the work similar meteorological conditions. The selected
presented in this article was to examine associa- suburb contained a wide cross-section of house
tions occurring between the concentration levels building materials and styles: new–old, brick–
of submicrometre and supermicrometre particles timber and high-set–low-set. Five hundred invita-
92 M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101
tions to participate in this study were hand perature. Outdoor relative humidity and tempera-
delivered to letterboxes. As a result, 17 household- ture records were also obtained from the Bureau
ers volunteered, of which 14 eventually took part. of Meteorology, for the days of sampling.
The measurements were conducted during May– The CPC, APS and Dust Trak operate at airflows
July 1999, that is, late autumn and winter in of 0.3 lymin, 5 lymin and 1.7 lymin, respectively,
Brisbane. while the airflow for the RCAS was 40 lymin.
Since the larger airflow of the RCAS would affect
2.2. Experimental design the particle measurements significantly, fungal
samples were taken either directly before or after
On arrival of the researchers at the test houses, the particle samples. Therefore particle data did
a 2-min outdoor bioaerosol (fungi and bacteria) not correlate directly in time to the fungi samples.
measurement was conducted using the Reuter Cen- The intrinsic experimental difficulties associated
trifugal Air Sampler (RCAS) under normal venti- with fungiynon-biological particles investigations
lation conditions. Normal ventilation conditions are discussed more detail in Discussion and con-
were defined as those that had already been estab- clusions section below. In relation to this study
lished by the resident prior to the researchers design, a question could be asked about the effect
arrival (i.e. all windows and doors that are nor- of temporal variability of the measured pollutants,
mally open in the residence for this time of year, and thus the stability of the samples collected for
were open). The following steps were to collect relatively short time intervals. While this could
10 min samples of the living room and bedroom certainly be a concern, the application of the real
bioaerosol first, and then to set up 1 h continuous time particle measuring instruments in this study
and simultaneous measurements in the living room (CPC, APS and Dust Trak), enabled to identify
of particle number concentration wusing the Con- any short-term variability of the concentrations
densation Particle Counter (CPC), and Aerody- measured. Therefore the data obtained was first
namic Particle Sizer (APS)x, as well as the particle analysed to identify an occurrence of any anoma-
mass (using the Dust Trak). In addition, a hand- lous levels of the concentrations measured. High
held vacuum cleaner was used to collect dust fluctuation of the concentrations measured could
samples for approximately 10–15 min, in the be due to significant variations in the source
bedroom from the lower bedding (mattress), upper strength. For example a car idling in an immediate
bedding (quilt, blanket) and pillow. Dust samples proximity to the investigated house could result in
were also collected from the living room and a sharp increase in the concentrations of the
kitchen floors after all particle sampling was com- particles measured. The intention was to remove
pleted, to ensure that the act of collection of dust any segments of the data from further data analy-
samples did not influence the particle concentra- ses, which would show high temporal variability.
tion. After 1 h, all the doors and windows were No such segments were identified and therefore
closed to create minimum ventilation conditions all the collected data was included for further
and the CPC, APS and Dust Trak were run for analyses. Intrinsic temporal variability of indoor
another hour. The total measurement period in and outdoor concentrations under the conditions
each house was 5 h, including the set up of the of stable operation of the outdoor sources was of
instruments, and so it was unfortunately not prac- the order of "10% for submicrometre particles
ticable to allow a long period of time for minimal concentrations (Morawska et al., 2001).
ventilation conditions to establish. Bioaerosol sam- The outdoor fungal measurements were con-
ples were collected in the living room and bath- ducted to establish the characteristics (concentra-
room either before or after the particle sampling, tion and speciation) of outdoor fungi in the air
to avoid the activity of the RCAS affecting the outside the houses. Living room and bedroom
particle measurements. samples conducted under normal ventilation con-
The Qtrak (TSI Model 8551) monitor was used ditions, served primarily to provide information
to measure the indoor relative humidity and tem- about the relationship between indoor and outdoor
M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101 93
fungal characteristics while those conducted under The fungal colonies were identified to genus
minimum ventilation were used to determine pos- level using Sellotape mounts directly from the
sible indoor fungal sources. The bathroom samples nutrient agar strips. This method involved pressing
were included since the damp, frequently humid sellotape directly onto the fungal colony surface
atmosphere could well serve to encourage the and placing it onto a microscope slide with lacto-
growth of moulds. This room was only sampled phenol cotton blue dye. Viewed under the micro-
under ‘normal’ conditions, since these are actually scope, characteristics of hyphae and spores were
the same as ‘minimal’, the bathroom being gener- used in identification. While this method of collec-
ally, much less open to natural ventilation than the tion was therefore confined to the cultivable, viable
remainder of the house. None of the bathrooms spores alone, it was this portion of the bioaerosol
tested showed signs of visible mould on any population that was selected for testing, in order
surfaces. to test the relationship between these fungi, and
Dust was collected from the bed, because it is the total particle count, which would also include
where people spend approximately 6–9 h a day, non-viable biological particles, and inert fungal
coming into close contact with the mattress, quilt spores. While such particles as the latter are known
and pillow. The living room is another place where to contribute to allergies, they are not able to
people spend their time either watching TV or establish colonies within houses, or infect suscep-
relaxing. The importance of the kitchen is that it tible individuals. At the time of testing, the ability
is a food preparation area. Therefore allergen to form secondary colonies within the houses was
present in dust in the bed, living room and kitchen a key interest of the study, since the primary
is particularly likely to have healthy implication source of airborne indoor fungal spores had not
that is why, these areas in the houses were selected been determined at the time of the study.
for sampling.
2.4. Measurement of non-biological contaminants
2.3. Measurement of biological contaminants
2.3.1. Fungi and bacteria 2.4.1. Submicrometre particle range (0.007–0.808
Sampling was performed using the Reuter Cen- mm)
trifugal Air Sampler (RCAS), and the sampling The number concentration of this particle range
time was 2 min. Tryptone soy agar strips were was measured using the TSI Model 3022A Con-
used to allow for a broad range of viable fungal densation Particle Counter (CPC). This particle
and bacterial counts. Xerophilic fungi were not range (0.007–0.808 mm) was selected since it
measured selectively, due to the lack of availability covers most of the particles in the submicrometre
of a low water activity medium in a form suitable range. Each of the instrument settings relates to a
for use in the RCAS. Nevertheless, the RCAS was specific flow rate, chosen for its operation. The
considered preferable to other available samplers, data was stored and saved into a file on a laptop
since it allows the necessary colony growth computer attached to the CPC.
required to absolutely identifying fungal genera.
Since Brisbane is a city of humid weather and 2.4.2. Supermicrometre particle range (0.54–
moderately high rainfall, the proportion of xero- 19.81 mm)
philic fungi was considered likely to be relatively The number concentration in this particle range
low. The agar strips were incubated at 28 8C for was measured using the TSI Model 3220 Aero-
3–4 days. The total number of colonies, total fungi dynamic Particle Sizer (APS). The instrument
and total bacteria were counted, and the airborne settings related to a specific flow rate, chosen for
bioburden calculated in terms of colony-forming its operation. The data was stored and saved into
units per cubic meter air (CFUym3): a file on a laptop computer attached to the APS.
Although the range covered by the APS includes
Number of colonies =25 a small fraction of the submicrometre range, for
CFUym3 calculated by:
Sampling time the purposes of this article the material collected
94 M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101
95
96 M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101
Table 2
Summary of outdoor and indoor submicrometre and supermicrometre particle number concentrations (particles my3 ), and particle
mass concentration (PM2.5: mg my3), under minimum and normal ventilation conditions
Fig. 1. Box plots showing submicrometre (CPC) concentration (particleycm3 ), supermicrometre (APS) concentration
(particleycm3), and fungal concentrations (CFUym3 ) in outdoor, and living room normal and minimum ventilation conditions. Note:
LNV, living room under normal ventilation condition; LMV, living room under minimum ventilation condition; F, fungi.
M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101 97
Fig. 2. Fungal airborne concentration at all five areas compared with the distance of houses from the park.
3.3. Comparison of non-viable particle and fungal 3.4. Association between particle and fungal
concentrations concentrations
The submicrometre, supermicrometre and Due to the experimental design, most particle
PM2.5 concentrations, from all houses are summar- concentration measurements did not exactly cor-
ised as box plots in Fig. 1. The plots show the respond to time in the fungal sample collection;
variability of the particle and fungal concentrations hence, particle data at the closest possible time
between the areas sampled, and in particular it was used for analysis between fungal and particle
illustrates that the living roomyminimum-ventila- concentrations. Regression analysis was performed
tion submicrometre, supermicrometre and fungal to examine the relationship between submicrome-
concentrations are lower than the living roomy tre particle, supermicrometre particle, PM2.5 and
normal-ventilation concentrations, while concen- fungal concentrations. Since the fungal concentra-
trations in the outdoor sample are the highest. For tion units are CFUym3, for the purpose of regres-
PM2.5, the living room minimum sample has slight- sion analysis this was converted into CFUycm3.
ly higher concentrations than the living room Scatter plots were computed between the total
normal ventilation sample. The reason for this fungal airborne concentration data and each parti-
trend is not fully understood, one of the hypotheses cle concentration data (submicrometre and super-
could be the lower rate of removal under minimum micrometre and PM2.5), for the following sites:
ventilation conditions of larger particles that are outdoors, living room normal and minimum ven-
re-suspended by the activities of the researchers. tilation. These plots were used to determine wheth-
These particles are not significant in terms of er a linear relationship existed between the fungi
number, but they dominate particle mass of which and particle concentrations. The submicrometre
PM2.5 is a measure. The indoor (normal ventila- and supermicrometre concentrations are expressed
tion) to outdoor ratios of the submicrometre, super- in particlesycm3.
micrometre and PM2.5 concentrations in all houses Examination of the scatter plots led to a conclu-
were close to one (Morawska et al., 2001). This sion that there is no linear relationship between
indicates that under normal ventilation conditions these two variables, and also some data points
the indoor particle concentrations mirror the out- were isolated from the general distribution of the
door concentrations. data. Box plots of the total fungal airborne con-
98 M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101
centration data and each particle concentrations study periods, for significant fraction of time it
(submicrometre and supermicrometre and PM2.5) was blowing from the direction of the park. The
were computed to check whether these points were most common fungi in outdoor air are those that
outliers. For fungi, it was noticed that house 13 in live on the surfaces of leaves (phylloplane fungi),
the outdoor sample and house 14 in the living which are also most likely to be those influenced
room normal and minimum ventilation samples by the presence of a park. Of these, a few genera,
were indeed outliers. The airborne fungal concen- Cladosporium, Alternaria, Epicoccum and Aureo-
tration for both these houses were above 1000 basidium comprise between 40 and 80% of the
CFUym3 in all sampled areas (except for living propagules in outdoor air in surveys worldwide
room and bathroom minimum ventilation in house (Gregory, 1961). Other genera such as Aspergillus
13), with outdoors fungal concentrations exceeding and Penicillium, while originating outdoors, are
2000 CFUym3 for both houses. likely to establish colonies indoor and so increased
Weak but statistically significant relationships numbers of these genera might be found in indoor
were found between supermicrometre particles and air if ventilation was poor.
fungal concentrations, for the outdoors (R 2s0.4, A graph comparing the distance of the houses
Ps0.03) and living room minimum (R 2s0.3, Ps from the park with fungal concentrations at all
0.04) samples. This was obtained after the outliers: sites is shown in Fig. 2. The graph shows that
house 13 in the outdoor sample and house 13 and with the decreasing distance between the houses
14 in the living room minimum samples were and the park, the level of outdoor (and also indoor)
removed from the analysis. House 13 was the only airborne fungal concentration increased. In the
house that had outdoor fungal concentrations of immediate proximity to the park, fungal concentra-
above 3000 CFUym3. In the living room minimum tions rose up to ;3100 CFUym3, whereas for
sample, houses 13 and 14 had fungal concentra- houses more than 150 m away from the park the
tions of above 700 CFUym3, while in all other concentrations of fungi were below 1000 CFUy
houses the concentration ranged from 163–500 m 3.
CFUym3. For the purpose of analyses the houses were
For the remaining regression analyses—super- divided into two groups, based on their distance
micrometre particles and fungal concentrations in from the park: group 1 were more than or equal
living room normal ventilation sample, submicro- to 150 m from the park and group 2 were less
metre particles, PM2.5 and fungal concentrations in than 150 m from the park. Independent-sample t-
outdoors, living room normal and minimum ven- tests were performed (Table 3) to statistically
tilation samples—no statistically significant rela- examine the hypothesis that ‘the mean of group 2
tionships were discovered, even when the outliers is higher than the mean of group 1’. This hypoth-
were removed. esis was accepted in the case of total outdoor
fungi and outdoor Cladosporium (P-0.02 and
3.5. Fungal concentrations as a function of dis- 0.02, respectively) and living room total fungi and
tance from their probable source living room Cladosporium concentrations under
normal ventilation conditions (P-0.04, and 0.04,
A main road to the south and a park to the respectively) at a 5% level of significance. The
north border the suburb under investigation. The hypothesis was also true for outdoor Penicillium
possible influence of the park on fungal concentra- and Aspergillus concentrations (P-0.1 and 0.1,
tions was investigated. The distance between the respectively), Aspergillus (living room, normal
park and the houses investigated ranged from 10 ventilation conditions) (P-0.09), Cladosporium
to 430 m, and the park constituted by far the (bedroom normal ventilation conditions) (P-0.1),
largest vegetation area in the suburb, compared to Alternaria (living room minimum ventilation con-
the small residential gardens and the parkland ditions) (P-0.09) and total fungi (bathroom min-
covered with short grass on the other side of the imum ventilation conditions) (P-0.07)
suburb. While the wind direction varied during the concentrations at the 10% significance level.
M. Hargreaves et al. / The Science of the Total Environment 312 (2003) 89–101 99
Table 3
Independent sample T-test results for airborne fungal concentration and distance of houses from park. Only those fungi that showed
statistically significant relationships with park distance are shown
Outdoors Living room normal vent Bedroom normal vent Bathroom minimum vent
Total fungi Ps0.02 (5%) Ps0.04 (5%) Ps0.07 (10%)
Cladosporium Ps0.02 (5%) Ps0.04 (5%) Ps0.09 (10%)
Alternaria Ps0.09 (10%)
Penicillium Ps0.1 (10%)
Aspergillus Ps0.1 (10%) Ps0.09 (10%)
The level of significances (5% or 10%) at which relationships were found, are given in parentheses next to the P value.
limited (often to one sample per specific condi- the fungal spore concentrations were related direct-
tion). The experimental difficulties discussed are ly to the distance from the source, in this case, a
intrinsic problems to fungiynon-biological particle nearby park in a very similar way in which the
investigations. Future experimental designs should submicrometre particles originating from vehicle
target solutions that would enable measurements emissions from a road, were dependent on the
of these concentrations to take place as close to distance to the road (Hitchins et al., 2000). In
time as possible, and to attempt to measure time both the cases, the concentrations were found to
series of both the particles and fungi. decrease almost exponentially with distance from
A weak but statistically significant relationship the source. This finding, coupled with the similar-
was found between airborne fungal concentrations ities in the box-plot profiles, indicated that the
and supermicrometre particle concentrations in the dynamics of the viable and non-viable aerosols are
outdoor and living room samples collected under very similar, although not necessarily proving a
minimum ventilation conditions. This can be attrib- physical association between the different particles
uted to the fact that both fungi and supermicro- as had been postulated.
metre particles occur in the same size range, 5–
20 mm and it is expected that their dynamics in Acknowledgments
the air would be similar. While, in fact, fungi are
included in the supermicrometre particle measure- This project was funded by the Australian
ment, the proportion of viable fungi was so low, Research Council, through SPIRT grant No.
compared with the non-viableynon-biological frac- C69804416 and also supported by the Built Envi-
tion, that it was considered to have negligible ronment Research Unit, Queensland Department
influence on the total supermicrometre numbers. of Public Works and Housing. The authors greatly
No statistically significant relationship was found acknowledged: the assistance of Keith Eigeland
between PM2.5 and fungal concentrations. This is and Chris Greenaway for the work in designing
likely to be due to the fact that while PM2.5 is a and distributing the initial approaches leaflets to
measure of particle mass and thus is biased towards the target suburb; the performed admirably by
particles of larger sizes that are smaller in number. Shannon Doherty of Griffith University, Brisbane;
The similarity between the supermicrometre parti- members of the International Laboratory of Air
cles and fungi measurements was that both were Quality and Health, QUT, for their discussions and
measured in terms of number: either number per assistance with this study; the assistance of Fiona
unit volume of the air (particles) or number of Stephens of the QUT Statistical consulting unit;
colony forming units (fungi). and Cheryl Swanson in revision of the article. The
An identified similarity in behaviour between authors would also like to express their gratitude
fungi and submicrometre particles was, that under to the owners and occupants of the houses for
minimum ventilation conditions both fungal and their help and assistance with this project.
submicrometre particle concentrations in indoor air
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