Indoor Fungal Contamination in Temporary Housing after the East Japan Great Earthquake Disaster

Maiko Watanabe, Rumi Konuma, Naoki Kobayashi, Akiko Yamazaki, Yoichi Kamata, Kenichi Hasegawa, Noritaka Kimura, Naomi Tsurikisawa, Chiyako Oshikata, Yoshiko Sugita-Konishi, Kosuke Takatori, Hiroshi Yoshino and Yukiko Hara-Kudo
Additional contact information
Maiko Watanabe: Division of Microbiology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 210-9501, Japan
Rumi Konuma: Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
Naoki Kobayashi: Department of Food and Life Science, School of Life and Environmental Science, Azabu University, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan
Akiko Yamazaki: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate 020-8550, Japan
Yoichi Kamata: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate 020-8550, Japan
Kenichi Hasegawa: Department of Architecture and Environment Systems, Faculty of Systems Science and Technology, Akita Prefectural University, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0055, Japan
Noritaka Kimura: Department of Bioengineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan
Naomi Tsurikisawa: Department of Allergy and Respirology, Hiratsuka City Hospital, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 254-0065, Japan
Chiyako Oshikata: Department of Allergy and Respirology, Hiratsuka City Hospital, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 254-0065, Japan
Yoshiko Sugita-Konishi: Department of Food and Life Science, School of Life and Environmental Science, Azabu University, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan
Kosuke Takatori: Center for Fungal Consultation Japan, Oota-ku, Tokyo 145-0067, Japan
Hiroshi Yoshino: Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0862, Japan
Yukiko Hara-Kudo: Division of Microbiology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 210-9501, Japan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-9

Abstract: To understand fungal contamination in the indoor environment of the disaster region, a field survey was performed to measure the number of fungal counts and identify isolates in the indoor air of prefabricated temporary housing, privately independent-housing, and rented apartments flooded by the East Japan Great Earthquake disaster tsunami. As a result, the period with the highest detected fungal count was from the rainy season to summer in independent-housing and rented apartments. Moreover, in the temporary housing, the fungal number increased further in winter as indicated by the maximum fungal-number throughout the measurement period. The detection frequency of Aspergillus species was relatively higher in the indoor air of temporary housing than in typical housing in the non-disaster area. Since Aspergillus is known as an allergenic genus, it requires careful attention to the health risk for residents. The extremely high level of fungal condensation in indoor air possibly occurred due to high relative humidity and loss of heat insulation in the building attics. It is suggested that this problem commonly happened in the cold region including the entire disaster region of the East Japan Great Earthquake.

Keywords: mycoflora; Great East Japan Earthquake; temporary housing; allergic fungi; Aspergillus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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