Distribution of fungus spores in the air of outdoor and indoor environments from September to November 1999 in Seoul, Korea

Kim, Cheol Hong; Choi, Jung Yun; Shon, Myung Hyun; Lee, Kyung Eun; Kim, Kyu Earn; Lee, Ki Young

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Fungi cause allergies and are difficult to avoid in daily life. People spend much of their time indoors, but distribution of fungi spores the indoor and outdoor invironment is not well known in this country. The aim of this study was to measure fungus spores indoor and outdoor environment simultaneously and to investigate any relationships in fungus spores between indoor and outdoor environments. METHOD: We collected samples from 198 households from September to November, 1999. Burkard Personal Volumetric Air Sampler was used to collect airborne fungus spores.
RESULTS
Mean number of indoor spores was 603 sp/m2 and 1,214 sp/m2 for outdoors. Cladosporium was the most predominant fungus both indoors and outdoors, followed by Leptospheria spp., Massarina spp., Alternaria spp. in order from September( indoor 928 sp/m2, outdoor 2,123 sp/m2) to November( indoor 95 sp/m2, outdoor 344 sp/m2). There were significant correlations between number of spores, and temperature and wind velocity(p<0.05), but no significant correlations with humidity.
CONCLUSION
Cladosporium spp. followed by Leptospheria, Massarina and Alternaria were the predominant fungi for both indoor and outdoor environments from September to November in Seoul.