B077 Fungi exposure risk

Exposure risk for indoor airborne fungi in residential buildings of Hong Kong

Brief:

Exposure to indoor airborne fungi raises a number of adverse health concerns. This study investigates the airborne fungal exposure in residential environments of Hong Kong. A regional survey on indoor airborne fungal exposure levels in residential environments of in-use high-rise residential buildings (N=63) located in rural and urban areas of Hong Kong was conducted. A ‘Relative Index of Fungal Exposure’ (RIFE) was used as a quantitative measure of the influence due to fungal exposure risk in these environments. It is reported that indoor airborne fungi were detected in 98.4% of the samples. The exposure levels ranged from 0 to 256 CFU m^-3 and the arithmetic mean was 93 CFU m^-3 with standard deviation of 62 CFU m^-3. The most dominant indoor airborne fungal genera were Cladosporium, followed by Penicillium and Aspergillus. The relative abundances (RA) of these dominant genera were 47.5%, 15.9% and 12.8%, respectively. And these dominant genera were recorded in 93.7%, 63.5% and 63.5% of the samples, respectively. Taking the outdoor airborne fungal exposure level as a reference, the RIFE of these dominant fungal genera were 0.98, 0.90 and 1.41, respectively. As the RIFE are larger than 1, it indicates a higher relative indoor exposure risk to these fungal genera as compared with that of the outdoor. Therefore, further investigations on the health impact of these fungal isolates are needed. This study presents a useful reference for indoor air quality assessment regarding relative exposure risk of airborne fungi in residential environments.

Further Information:

Chan WY, Wong LT, Mui KW, 2009. Exposure risk for indoor airborne fungi in residential buildings of Hong Kong, The 11^th International Conference on air distribution in rooms (ROOMVENT 2009), 24-27 May, Busan, Korea, pp. 651-656.