Background concentrations of airborne, culturable fungi and dust particles in urban, rural and mountain regions

Doris Haas; Mihaela Ilieva; Theresa Fritz; Herbert Galler; Juliana Habib; Angela Kriso; Michael Kropsch; Petra Ofner-Kopeinig; Franz F Reinthaler; Andreas Strasser; Eduard Zentner; Michael Schalli

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164700

Background concentrations of airborne, culturable fungi and dust particles in urban, rural and mountain regions

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Sep 20:892:164700. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164700. Epub 2023 Jun 9.

Affiliations

¹ Applied Hygiene and Aerobiology, D&R Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Austria. Electronic address: doris.haas@medunigraz.at.
² Applied Hygiene and Aerobiology, D&R Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
³ AREC Raumberg Gumpenstein, Institute for Livestock, Technology and Environment, Austria.
⁴ Institute for Medical Informatics Statistics and Documentation, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
⁵ Department for Water-Hygiene and Micro-Ecology, D&R Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Austria.

PMID: 37302594
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164700

Abstract

Geographic location and meteorological factors can affect the content of bioaerosol concentrations. This study was conducted to determine the natural background concentrations of culturable fungal spores and dust particles in three different geographical areas. Focus was given to the dominant airborne genera Cladosporium, Penicillium, Aspergillus and the species Aspergillus fumigatus. The influence of weather conditions on the microorganism concentrations in urban, rural and mountain regions were examined. Possible correlations between particle counts and culturable fungal spore concentrations were investigated. 125 measurements of the air were conducted using the air sampler MAS-100NT® and the particle counter Alphasense OPC-N3. The analyses of the collected samples were based on culture methods using different media. The highest median of fungal spore concentrations was detected in the urban region and was of 2.0 × 10³ CFU/m³ for xerophilic fungi and 1.7 × 10³ CFU/m³ for the genus Cladosporium. The concentrations of fine and coarse particles in rural and urban regions were the highest of 1.9 × 10⁷ pa/m³ and 1.3 × 10⁷ pa/m³, respectively. Little cloud cover and slight wind had a positive influence on the concentration of fungal spores. Furthermore, correlations were observed between air temperature and the concentrations of xerophilic fungi as well as the genera Cladosporium. In contrast, relative humidity correlated negatively with total fungi and Cladosporium and no correlation was found with the other fungi. For the region of Styria in summer and early autumn, the natural background concentration for xerophilic fungi ranged between 3.5 × 10² and 4.7 × 10³ CFU/m³ air. No significant differences were detected between the fungal spore concentrations in urban, rural and mountainous regions. The data of this study could be used as a reference to compare the natural background concentrations of airborne culturable fungi in further studies concerning air quality assessment.

Keywords: Bioaerosol concentrations; Dust; Fungal genera; Geographic areas; Meteorological conditions.

MeSH terms

Air Microbiology
Dust*
Environmental Monitoring* / methods
Fungi
Humans
Seasons
Spores, Fungal

Substances

Dust