Methods of sampling airborne fungi in working environments of waste treatment facilities

• Authors: Kristýna Černá , Zdeňka Wittlingerová , Magdaléna Zimová , Zdeněk Janovský

Abstracts

EN

Objectives The objective of the present study was to evaluate and compare the efficiency of a filter based sampling method and a high volume sampling method for sampling airborne culturable fungi present in waste sorting facilities. Material and Methods Membrane filters method was compared with surface air system method. The selected sampling methods were modified and tested in 2 plastic waste sorting facilities. Results The total number of colony-forming units (CFU)/m³ of airborne fungi was dependent on the type of sampling device, on the time of sampling, which was carried out every hour from the beginning of the work shift, and on the type of cultivation medium (p < 0.001). Detected concentrations of airborne fungi ranged 2×10²–1.7×10⁶ CFU/m³ when using the membrane filters (MF) method, and 3×10²–6.4×10⁴ CFU/m³ when using the surface air system (SAS) method. Conclusions Both methods showed comparable sensitivity to the fluctuations of the concentrations of airborne fungi during the work shifts. The SAS method is adequate for a fast indicative determination of concentration of airborne fungi. The MF method is suitable for thorough assessment of working environment contamination by airborne fungi. Therefore we recommend the MF method for the implementation of a uniform standard methodology of airborne fungi sampling in working environments of waste treatment facilities.

Keywords

EN

airborne fungi; waste sorting facility; filter based bioaerosol sampling; surface air system method; working environment; plastics

• Publisher: Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. dra Jerzego Nofera w Łodzi
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 493-502

Dates

published

2016

Contributors

author

Kristýna Černá

• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Ecology)

author

Zdeňka Wittlingerová

• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Ecology)

author

Magdaléna Zimová

• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Ecology)

author

Zdeněk Janovský

• Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Science, Department of Botany)
• Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Průhonice, Czech Republic (Institute of Botany)

Identifiers

DOI

10.13075/ijomeh.1896.00568

Biblioteka Nauki

2177446