Assessment of Bioaerosols in the Public Buildings of Korea

Abstract

The concentration of airborne bacteria and fungi in public buildings is regulated by law in Korea. Levels are investigated during the moderate seasons, spring (March-May) and autumn (September-November), using a six-stage cascade impactor. Total concentrations of airborne bacteria and fungi range from 290 to 940 cfu Á m À3 and 330 to 540 cfu Á m À3 , respectively. The levels of airborne bacteria and fungi are significantly highest in a kindergarten building and lowest in an elderly welfare facility ( p50.05). The ratio of respirable to total concentration range from 30 to 40% for airborne bacteria and from 55 to 70% for airborne fungi but there is no significant difference among the public buildings examined ( p40.05). The mean ratios of indoor and outdoor concentrations of airborne bacteria and fungi are below 1.0 regardless of the fraction of particle size and building type. The indoor concentration of airborne bacteria and fungi do not correlate significantly with indoor temperature and relative humidity ( p40.05). However, this does have a significant positive correlation with CO 2 and the number of people per area of the sampling site ( p50.05), which implies that the activity of residents has considerable effect on the levels of both airborne bacteria and fungi.

Indoor Air Quality of the Library at İstanbul University, Turkey

“…Microfungal counts seem to be associated with sampling months in the present study (Table 1). A same result was obtained in the study of Kim et al [39]. This might be explained by the fact that, (i) although natural ventilation was frequently used in the archives, air flow was controlled by the mechanical ventilation system in most parts of library.…”

Distribution characteristics of airborne bacteria and fungi in the feedstuff-manufacturing factories

“…In foreign countries, there are a number of case studies evaluating the indoor level of bioaerosol in various types of residential buildings such as house [16][17][18], hospital [19][20][21], and school [22][23][24] while there are few domestic reports only focusing on public buildings which are subject to the regulation of total airborne bacteria by the Law of Indoor Air Control in Korea [25,26].…”

Concentration of environmental fungal and bacterial bioaerosols during the monsoon season

“…Therefore, because of the importance of bioaerosol researches, in several previous studies, the concentration of bioaerosols has been measured in indoor environments. In those studies, bioaerosols have been measured in restrooms (Lee et al, 2012), hospitals (Li & Hou, 2003;Pastuszka et al, 2005), houses (Jeon et al, 2010;Jo & Seo, 2005;Lee & Jo, 2006;Ren et al, 1999;Roberts et al, 2006), and work places (Chang et al, 2001;Kalogerakis et al, 2005;Kim et al, 2007;Lacey & Crook, 1988;Law et al, 2001). Most previous studies show a wide range of the number concentrations of total culturable bioaerosols in indoor air environments and the results of those studies indicate the necessity of continuous monitoring and studying the indoor bioaerosol concentrations.…”