Prevalence of Culturable Airborne Fungi in 100 U.S. Office Buildings in the Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) Study PDF

This paper presents preliminary analyses of the data on airborne fungi collected in 100 U.S. office buildings in the BASE study. There was agreement between the two methods used to identify fungi (i.e., culture and microscopic examination), but each approach provided information the other did not. Almost all fungi were found more often in samples of outdoor than indoor air and more often in summer than winter in both locations. An association with summer humidity was observed for water-requiring (hydrophilic) and leaf-surface (phylloplane) fungi indoors. No effect of summer temperature was found. Leaf-surface, soil, and potentially toxigenic fungi were identified in more outdoor samples in regions with warmer winters, whereas leaf-surface, soil, and water-requiring fungi were more prevalent indoors in regions with moderate vs. warmer or cooler winters. These differences suggest that investigators must consider the season in which they collect samples and a building's ventilation patterns.

Authors: Janet M. Macher, Sc.D., Feng C. Tsai, Ph.D., Laureen E. Burton, Kai-Shen Liu, Ph.D., Jed M. Waldman, Ph.D.

Citation: Indoor Air Quality 2001 Moisture, Microbes, and Heath Effects: Indoor Air Quality and Moisture in Buildings Conference Papers

Keywords: November, California, 2001, IAQ