Pei-Chih W, Huey-Jen S, Chia-Yin L
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, National Cheng Kung University Medical College, Tainan, Taiwan, PR China.
Sci Total Environ. 2000 May 15;253(1-3):111-8. doi: 10.1016/s0048-9697(00)00423-x.
Literature has suggested association between damp environments, microbial exposure, and higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms and diseases. The study began by evaluating the airborne fungal concentrations at urban and suburban areas of a typical metropolitan city in southern Taiwan for the estimation of related health risks. A group of representative homes, based on the housing characteristics questionnaires completed earlier, were selected from two parts of the city; urban and suburban. Burkard sampler (BURKARD, Rickmansworth, England) was used to collect airborne fungi onto agar plates with malt-extract. After incubation and identification, concentrations of airborne fungi were calculated as CFU/m3. The geometric mean (GM) concentration for indoors was 8946 (4372-18,306) CFU/m3 in winter and 4381 (1605-11,956) in summer. For outdoors, it was 11,464 (5767-22,788) CFU/m3 in winter and 4689 (1895-11,603) in summer. In summer, the total fungal concentration, both indoors and outdoors of suburban homes, were significantly higher than those of urban homes. The dominant fungi contributing to such a difference were indoor Cladosporium spp. and outdoor Penicillium spp. (P < 0.01). The indoor/outdoor ratio (I/O) was similar in two areas except for Penicillium spp. in winter and Aspergillus spp. in summer; both higher in the suburban area. Significantly higher levels of airborne fungi were observed in this region than those seen in northern Taiwan or other parts of the world. Future investigations are needed to further examine the effects of these exposures on the related health problems.
文献表明，潮湿环境、微生物接触与呼吸道症状及疾病的较高患病率之间存在关联。该研究首先评估了台湾南部一个典型大都市市区和郊区的空气中真菌浓度，以估算相关健康风险。根据之前完成的住房特征问卷，从该市的市区和郊区两部分选取了一组具有代表性的家庭。使用伯卡德采样器（BURKARD，英国里克曼斯沃思）将空气中的真菌收集到含有麦芽提取物的琼脂平板上。经过培养和鉴定后，空气中真菌的浓度以每立方米菌落形成单位（CFU/m³）计算。冬季室内空气中真菌的几何平均（GM）浓度为8946（4372 - 18306）CFU/m³，夏季为4381（1605 - 11956）CFU/m³。室外冬季为11464（5767 - 22788）CFU/m³，夏季为4689（1895 - 11603）CFU/m³。夏季，郊区家庭室内和室外的真菌总浓度均显著高于市区家庭。造成这种差异的主要真菌是室内的枝孢菌属和室外的青霉属（P < 0.01）。除了冬季的青霉属和夏季的曲霉属外，两个地区的室内/室外比率（I/O）相似；郊区的这两个比率均较高。该地区空气中真菌的水平明显高于台湾北部或世界其他地区。未来需要进一步调查这些接触对相关健康问题的影响。
