Assessment of microbiological contamination in the work environments of museums, archives and libraries

Abstract

Museums, archives and libraries have large working environments. The goal of this study was to determine microbial contamination in these work places and estimate the influence of microclimatic parameters and total dust content on microbial contamination. In addition, research included evaluation of ergosterol concentration and fungal bioaerosol particle size distribution. Numbers of micro-organisms in the air and on the surfaces in museums were higher (2.1 × 102–7.0 × 103 cfu/m3 and 1.4 × 102–1.7 × 104 cfu/100 cm2, respectively) than in archives and libraries (3.2 × 102–7.2 × 102 cfu/m3 and 8.4 × 102–8.8 × 102 cfu/100 cm2, respectively). The numbers of micro-organisms detected in the tested museums, archives and libraries did not exceed occupational exposure limits proposed by Polish Committee for the Highest Permissible Concentrations and Intensities of Noxious Agents at the Workplace. The concentrations of respirable and suspended dust in museum storerooms were 2–4 times higher than the WHO-recommended limits. We found a correlation between microclimatic conditions and numbers of micro-organisms in the air in the tested working environments. In addition, a correlation was also found between ergosterol concentration and the number of fungi in the air. Fungi were the dominant micro-organisms in the working environments tested. Particles within the dominant fractions of culturable fungal aerosols sampled from museum storerooms had aerodynamic diameters between 1.1 and 2.1 µm.

Air microbial contamination and factors affecting its occurrence in certain book libraries in Egypt.

“…Species of Aspergillus, Penicillium and Cladosporium with aerodynamic diameters less than 8 µm were found in high percentage in air of museum store room, indicated that fungi found as single cells, spores or small fragments of mycelium (Skóra et al, 2015) It is important to sample microbial particles as size fractions, since particles with smaller diameters are more likely to enter the lungs and thus may negatively impact human health. Fine size microbial fractions are able to penetrate the respiratory system of human, causing irritation to mucous membrane of nose and eyes, inflammatory responses and allergic reactions (Kulkarni et al, 2011).…”

“…Borrego and Perdomo (2012) found that Gram positive cocci and bacilli bacteria are abundant in libraries in Cuba. Moreover, species of Micrococcus (Harkawy et al, 2011), Staphylococcus (Hayleeyesus and Manaye, 2014) and Bacillus (Skóra et al, 2015) were found to be the common bacterial genera in indoors environment of libraries and archives.…”

“…Aspergillus and Penicillium are able to colonize different substrates and resist unfavorable conditions (Araujo and Cabral, 2010). Cladosporium, Penicillium and Aspergillus were the common indoor fungi in libraries and archives (Micheluz et al, 2015;Skóra et al, 2015 andAnaya et al, 2016). A. versicolor, Paecilomyces and A. fumigatus were numerous in the library in Poland (Cieplik, 1997).…”

“…Mycotoxins producing fungi, e.g. Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Stachybotrytis have been isolated from museum, libraries and archive settings (Eduard, 2009 andSkóra et al, 2015).…”

Avaliação Quanti-Qualitativa do Ar Interior de Uma Biblioteca Pública do Município de Cuiabá-MT

“…Karbowska-Berentet al (2011), mencionam que livros e outros materiais de arquivo são ricos reservatórios de nutrientes, principalmente celulose que é o principal componente do papel e proteínas que estão presentes na cola e adesivos usados na manufatura do produto. Esses nutrientes estimulam o crescimento de grupos específicos de microrganismos, dentre eles os fungos que exibem propriedades celulolítica (Trichoderma, Penicillium, Botrytis, Chaetomium, Stemphyliume Alternaria) Na literatura, há vários estudos que investigam a microbiota fúngica e bacteriana em bibliotecas públicas (GAMBALE et al 1993, KARBOWSKA-BERENT et al 2011PANTOJA et al 2012;MICHELUZ et al 2015;SKÓRA et al 2015).…”