B079 Office airborne fungi

Airborne fungi in air-conditioned offices of Hong Kong: Changes in the past decade

Brief:

Indoor environment is easily associated with an exposure risk to some airborne fungi of health concerns. However, the existing indoor air quality (IAQ) policy in Hong Kong was in the form of guidance which audited 3 thermal comfort and 9 IAQ parameters, excluding the airborne fungi. The influence of such policy on fungi exposure in offices was not extensively evaluated. This study aims to review the changes of the airborne fungi exposure in air-conditioned offices in the past decade of Hong Kong and evaluate the influences of existing IAQ which implemented in the year 2003. The AFC in air-conditioned offices before and after the implementation of the current IAQ policy in 2003 were reviewed and the differences were studied. It is reported that the mean AFC in offices were decreased significantly from 147 CFU m^–3 to 29 CFU m^–3. As there is no universal standard for the AFC, the unsatisfactory rates with respect to target exposure levels of AFC (200 CFU m^–3) were assessed and a significant decrease from 0.546 to 0.013 was reported. This study concludes the positive influence of the IAQ policy in lowering the AFC with IAQ improved in the past decade in Hong Kong.

Further Information:

Chan WY, Mui KW, Wong LT, 2009. Airborne fungi in air-conditioned offices of Hong Kong: Changes in the past decade, The First International Postgraduate Conference on Infrastructure and Environment, 5-6 June 2009, Hong Kong, China, pp. 70-74.