Chao H Jasmine, Schwartz Joel, Milton Donald K, Burge Harriet A
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2002 Aug;110(8):777-82. doi: 10.1289/ehp.02110777.
Bioaerosol concentrations in office environments and their roles in causing building-related symptoms have drawn much attention in recent years. Most bioaerosol studies have been cross-sectional. We conducted a longitudinal study to examine the characteristics of airborne fungal populations and correlations with other environmental parameters in office environments. We investigated four office buildings in Boston, Massachusetts, during 1 year beginning May 1997, recruiting 21 offices with open workstations. We conducted intensive bioaerosol sampling every 6 weeks resulting in 10 sets of measurement events at each workstation, and recorded relative humidity, temperature, and CO2 concentrations continuously. We used principal component analysis (PCA) to identify groups of culturable fungal taxa that covaried in air. Four major groupings (PCA factors) were derived where the fungal taxa in the same groupings shared similar ecological requirements. Total airborne fungal concentrations varied significantly by season (highest in summer, lowest in winter) and were positively correlated with relative humidity and negatively related to CO2 concentrations. The first and second PCA factors had similar correlations with environmental variables compared with total fungi. The results of this study provide essential information on the variability within airborne fungal populations in office environments over time. These data also provide background against which cross-sectional data can be compared to facilitate interpretation. More studies are needed to correlate airborne fungi and occupants' health, controlling for seasonal effects and other important environmental factors.
近年来，办公环境中的生物气溶胶浓度及其在引发与建筑物相关症状方面的作用备受关注。大多数生物气溶胶研究都是横断面研究。我们进行了一项纵向研究，以考察办公环境中空气传播真菌种群的特征以及与其他环境参数的相关性。1997年5月开始的1年时间里，我们对马萨诸塞州波士顿的4栋办公楼进行了调查，招募了21个配备开放式工作站的办公室。我们每6周进行一次密集的生物气溶胶采样，每个工作站共进行10组测量活动，并持续记录相对湿度、温度和二氧化碳浓度。我们使用主成分分析（PCA）来识别在空气中共同变化的可培养真菌分类群。由此得出了四个主要分组（PCA因子），同一分组中的真菌分类群具有相似的生态需求。空气中真菌的总浓度随季节变化显著（夏季最高，冬季最低），并且与相对湿度呈正相关，与二氧化碳浓度呈负相关。与总真菌相比，第一和第二PCA因子与环境变量具有相似的相关性。本研究结果提供了关于办公环境中空气传播真菌种群随时间变化的重要信息。这些数据还为横断面数据的比较提供了背景，便于进行解读。需要更多的研究来关联空气传播真菌与居住者的健康状况，同时控制季节效应和其他重要环境因素。
