Array.
University of Parma.
Acta Biomed. 2020 Apr 10;91(3-S):92-105. doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i3-S.9434.
Bioaerosol plays an important role in human life with potentially infectious, allergic and toxic effects. Active and passive methods can be used to assess microbial air contamination, but so far there is not a unanimous consensus regarding the indications about methods to be used and how to interpret the results. The passive method has been standardized by the Index of Microbial Air contamination (IMA). Classes of contamination and maximum acceptable levels of IMA have been proposed, related to different infection or contamination risks. The aim of this study was to provide information about the use of the passive sampling method, with reference to the IMA standard.
We searched PubMed and Scopus for articles published until January 2020 reporting the citation of the article by Pasquarella et al. "The index of microbial air contamination. J Hosp Infect 2000". Only studies in English language where the IMA standard was applied were considered. Studies regarding healthcare settings were excluded.
27 studies were analyzed; 12 were performed in Europe, 8 in Asia, 5 in Africa, 2 in America. Cultural heritage sites, educational buildings and food industries were the most common indoor monitored environments; in 8 studies outdoor air was monitored.
This review has provided a picture of the application of standard IMA in different geographic areas and different environments at risk of airborne infection/contamination. The analysis of the results obtained, together with a wider collection of data, will provide a useful contribution towards the definition of reference limits for the various types of environments to implement targeted preventive measures.
生物气溶胶在人类生活中起着重要作用，具有潜在的感染、过敏和毒性作用。主动和被动方法可用于评估微生物空气污染物，但到目前为止，对于要使用的方法的指示以及如何解释结果还没有达成一致共识。被动方法已经被微生物空气污染物指数（IMA）标准化。已经提出了污染等级和最大可接受的 IMA 水平，这些等级与不同的感染或污染风险有关。本研究的目的是提供关于使用被动采样方法的信息，参考 IMA 标准。
我们在 PubMed 和 Scopus 上搜索了截至 2020 年 1 月发表的文章，这些文章都引用了 Pasquarella 等人的文章“微生物空气污染物指数。J Hosp Infect 2000”。只考虑了应用 IMA 标准的英语语言研究。不包括关于医疗保健环境的研究。
分析了 27 项研究；12 项在欧洲进行，8 项在亚洲进行，5 项在非洲进行，2 项在美洲进行。文化遗产场所、教育建筑和食品工业是最常见的室内监测环境；在 8 项研究中监测了室外空气。
本综述提供了标准 IMA 在不同地理区域和不同空气传播感染/污染风险环境中的应用情况。对获得的结果进行分析，并结合更广泛的数据收集，将为定义各种环境的参考限值提供有益的贡献，以便实施有针对性的预防措施。
