Non-Seasonal Variation of Airborne Aspergillus Spore Concentration in a Hospital Building

Michael Oberle, Markus Reichmuth, Reto Laffer, Cornelia Ottiger, Hans Fankhauser and Thomas Bregenzer
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Michael Oberle: Kantonsspital Aarau AG, Institute for Laboratory Medicine, Tellstrasse 1, 5001 Aarau, Switzerland
Markus Reichmuth: Analytica Medizinische Laboratorien AG, Falkenstrasse 14, 8024 Zürich, Switzerland
Reto Laffer: Spital Langenthal, Medizinische Klinik, St. Urbanstrasse 67, 4901 Langenthal, Switzerland
Cornelia Ottiger: Kantonsspital Aarau AG, Institute for Laboratory Medicine, Tellstrasse 1, 5001 Aarau, Switzerland
Hans Fankhauser: Kantonsspital Aarau AG, Institute for Laboratory Medicine, Tellstrasse 1, 5001 Aarau, Switzerland
Thomas Bregenzer: Spital Lachen, Klinik für Innere Medizin, Oberdorfstrasse 41, 8853 Lachen, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: Nosocomial fungal infections are gaining increased attention from infectiologists. An adequate investigation into the levels of airborne Aspergillus and other fungal spores in hospital settings, under normal conditions, is largely unknown. We monitored airborne spore contamination in a Swiss hospital building in order to establish a seasonally-dependent base-line level. Air was sampled using an impaction technique, twice weekly, at six different locations over one year. Specimens were seeded in duplicate on Sabouraud agar plates. Grown colonies were identified to genus levels. The airborne Aspergillus spore concentration was constantly low throughout the whole year, at a median level of 2 spores/m 3 (inter-quartile range = IQR 1–4), and displayed no seasonal dependency. The median concentration of other fungal spores was higher and showed a distinct seasonal variability with the ambient temperature change during the different seasons: 82 spores/m 3 (IQR 26–126) in summer and 9 spores/m 3 (IQR 6–15) in winter. The spore concentration varied considerably between the six sampling sites in the building (10 to 26 spores/m 3 ). This variability may explain the variability of study results in the literature.

Keywords: Aspergillus; airborne fungal spores; seasonal variation; spore contamination; hospital air; monitoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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