• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.465-471
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• 2015

Objectives: An objective of this study is to apply a thermal image camera which shows various color according to temperature of indoor surface for estimating concentration of airborne fungi. Materials and Methods: While wall temperature were monitored by applying the thermal image camera, airborne bacteria as well as air temperature and relative humidity have been measured in lecture room and toilet of university for seven months. Results: Based on the results obtained from this study, the ranges of temperature and airborne fungi concentration were $20{\sim}24^{\circ}C$ and $20{\sim}400cfu/m^3 $ for red image, $17.5{\sim}20^{\circ}C$ and $35{\sim}150cfu/m^3$ for orange image, $15.5{\sim}17.5^{\circ}C$ and $25{\sim}650cfu/m^3$ for sky-blue image, and $13.5{\sim}15.5^{\circ}C$ and $50{\sim}200cfu/m^3$ for blue image, respectively. The color of indoor surface taken shot by thermal image camera showed consistent trend with temperature of indoor surface. There is, however, little correlation between color of indoor surface and airborne fungi concentration(p>0.05). Among environmental factors, relative humidity in indoor air showed a significant relationship with airborne fungi concentration(p<0.05). Conclusions: The more measurement data for proving statistically an association between color of indoor surface and airborne fungi concentration should be provided to easily estimate indoor level of airborne fungi.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.300-310
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• 2012

Objectives: Indoor air quality problems in public spaces have recently become a very important issue in South Korea, because many spend a long time every day indoors. In this study, an extensive literature review was performed on the subject of suspended bacteria and fungi in public facilities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the extent and types of suspended bacteria and fungi in indoor air in South Korea. This study will provide direction to the research in the field of indoor air. Methods: Article reviews was conducted using a search engine and the following keywords; 'bacteria', 'total suspended bacteria', 'fungi' and 'indoor air' from published articles since 2000. Results: Most of the places of measurement were schools, kindergartens, childcare centers and general hospitals. The highest concentrations of total suspended bacteria and fungi were found in schools and kindergartens. Some public facilities exceeded the standard of 800 CFU/$m^3$. There were few studies on other suspended bacteria: Gram Negative Bacteria, Staphylococcus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Conclusions: It appears that more studies with intensive controls are needed. It was found that schools and kindergartens were most susceptible to microbial indoor air pollution. These results may be able to suggest an indoor standard for suspended bacteria and fungi in South Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.438-446
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was performed in order to determine airborne fungi levels in homes and find related factors that may affect airborne fungi concentration. Methods: Fifty homes were study subjects for measuring airborne fungi. For sampling airborne fungi, the impaction method on agar plates was used and samples were counted as colony forming units per cubic meter of air ($CFU/m^3$). In addition, information regarding housing characteristics and atopic disease in each home were collected via questionnaire. Results: The geometric means (GM) of airborne fungi concentrations in fifty living rooms and bedrooms were 68.03 and 62.93 $CFU/m^3$, respectively. The GM of airborne fungi concentration in atopy homes was 78.42 $CFU/m^3$. This was higher than non-atopy homes' 54.34 $CFU/m^3$ (p-value=0.051). In the results of the multiple regression analysis, outdoor airborne fungal concentration proved a strong effective factor on indoor airborne fungal concentration. Also, construction year, floor area of house, indoor smoking and frequency of ventilation were factors that showed a significant association with indoor airborne fungi concentration. Conclusions: The results of this study show that some housing and living characteristics may affect the development and increase of airborne fungi. In addition, exposure to airborne fungi may be a risk factor for the prevalence of childhood atopic diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2021

In modern society, indoor activities time is increasing due to industrial development. Interest in indoor air quality is increasing as indoor activity time increases. The main causes of indoor air pollution are formaldehyde which a chemical cause, and fungi which a biological cause. Phytoncide effectively reduces Formaldehyde and Fungi. Charcoal which possess porous-structure has a good absorbance of pollutants. In this study, the authors manufactured functional cement matrix using by phytoncide and charcoal to remove formaldehyde and fungi. In this study, Functional cement matrix reduced formaldehyde and Fungi and effectively improve indoor air quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.351-357
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• 2019

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate fungal contamination in a 31-year old university building in Seoul, Korea, and to study the inactivation of fungi using cold atmospheric pressure plasma(CAP). Methods: To investigate the fungal contamination in a university building, air samples were collected from five locations in the building, including two study rooms, a storage room, a laboratory, and a basement. The sampling was performed in a dry season(February to April) and in a wet season(July). To study the inactivation efficacy of fungi by CAP, airborne fungal concentrations were measured before and after the operation of the CAP generator. Results: Humidity was an important factor affecting fungal growth. The airborne fungal concentrations determined in the wet season(July) were significantly higher than those determined in the dry season(February to April). In the basement, the values determined in the dry and wet season were 319 and $3,403CFU/m^3$, respectively. The inactivation efficiency of fungi by CAP was 83-90% over five to nine days of operation. Conclusions: The university building was highly contaminated by airborne fungi, especially in summer. It is concluded that humidity is an important factor affecting fungal growth and CAP is a highly useful technique for inactivation of indoor airborne fungi.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2004

This study was conducted to evaluate the characterization of airborne bioaerosol in public facilities in Seoul. A total of 17 public facilities were investigated from December, 2002 to February, 2003. As results of the survey, the mean concentrations of bacteria and fungi in indoor air of public facilities were $378.08\pm296.33$ CFU/㎥ by RCS and $106.38\pm171.63$ CFU/㎥ and $347.46\pm335.32$ CFU/㎥ and $95.23\pm62.61$ CFU/㎥, by Six-stage cascade air sampler respectively. The mean concentrations of bacteria in indoor air (by ventilation method) were $517.14\pm343.93$ CFU/㎥ of natural ventilation and $215,83\pm100.71$ CFU/㎥ of mechanical ventilation. The mean concentrations of fungi in indoor air (by ventilation method) were $83.14\pm79.16$ CFU/㎥ of natural ventilation and $133.50\pm248.07$ CFU/㎥ of mechanical ventilation. The mean concentrations of bacteria in indoor air were 449.44 CFU/㎥ for the ground and $217.50\pm103.68$ CFU/㎥ for the underground. The mean concentrations of fungi in indoor air were $63.89\pm77.66$ CFU/㎥ for the ground and $202.00\pm290.08$ CFU/㎥ for the underground.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.77-85
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• 2007

Recently, there is increasing interest in indoor air pollution. Fungal spores are one of the pollutants that is the causes of hypersensitivity reactions, bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis. This study was performed to assess the levels of fungi concentration in public facilities and airborne fungi were collected with the air sampler using DRBC(Dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol) agar. It was found that airborne fungi concentration were related to the humidity and the people movement. 10 genera of fungi was isolated and identified and the most common culturable fungi were Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Aspergillus.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.61-80
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• 2013

Quantification of viable forms of microbial community (bacteria and fungi) using culture-dependent methods was done in order to characterize the indoor air quality (IAQ). Role of those factors, which may influence the concentration of viable counts of bacteria and fungi, like ventilation, occupancy, outdoor concentration and environmental parameters (temperature and relative humidity) were also determined. Volumetric-infiltration sampling technique was employed to collect air samples both inside and outside the schools. As regard of measurements of airborne viable culturable microflora of schools during one academic year, the level of TVMCs in school buildings was ranged between 803-5368 cfu/$m^3$. Viable counts of bacteria (VBCs) were constituted 63.7% of the mean total viable microbial counts where as viable counts of fungi (VFCs) formed 36.3% of the total. Mean a total viable microbial count (TVMCs) in three schools was 2491 cfu/$m^3$. Outdoor level of TVMCs was varied from 736-5855 cfu/$m^3$. Maximum and minimum VBCs were 3678-286 cfu/m3 respectively. Culturable fungal counts were ranged from 268-2089 cfu/$m^3$ in three schools. Significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) was indicated that indoor concentration of viable community reliant upon outdoor concentration. Temperature seemed to have a large effect (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) on the concentration of viable culturable microbial community rather than relative humidity. Consistent with the analysis and findings, the concentration of viable cultural counts of bacteria and fungi found indoors, were of several orders of magnitude, depending upon the potential of local, spatial and temporal factors, IO ratio appeared as a crucial indicator to identify the source of microbial contaminants.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.282-289
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• 2022

Background: Airborne fungi are ubiquitous in the air and exposure to an airborne fungus can be a significant risk factor. The composition of fungi has been potentially important for human health, especially for respiratory diseases like asthma and atopic dermatitis. Therefore, we attempted to ascertain what kind of airborne fungi affect human health at a nationwide level. Objectives: This study was carried out to provide information on indoor fungi distribution at multi-use facilities throughout South Korea. Methods: We classified our data by region and public facility after collection, cultivation, and identification via the sequencing of the ITS (internal transcribed spacer) region. We investigated whether or not the proliferation of HaCaT cells was affected by the identified airborne fungi. Results: In our data, the most isolated airborne fungi by region were Penicillium spp (Seoul, Daegu), Periconia sp (Gyeonggi-do), Iprex sp (Gangwon-do), Phanerochaete sp (Busan), Bjerkandera sp (Gwangju), and Aspergillus sp (Jeju-do). In the public facilities, the most detected fungi were Cladosporium sp (public transport), Penicillium sp (apartment house, retail market, financial institution, karaoke room), Bjerokandera sp (underground parking lot, public toilet, medical institution), Periconia sp (retail store), and Fusarium sp (general restaurant). Next, we selected twenty airborne fungi to examine their cytotoxicity and proliferation of human skin cells. In this experiment, the proliferation of the cells was influenced by most of the identified fungi. In case of the cytotoxicity test, most genera except for Rhodotorula sp and Moesziomyces sp showed cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells. Conclusions: The distribution of mold in the indoor air in multi-use facilities in South Korea differs from region to region, and this is an indicator that should be considered in future health impact studies. In addition, as a result of culturing about 20 types of bacteria dominant in indoor air, it was found that most (90%) inhibit the growth of skin cells, which can be harmful to health. An in-depth study of the health effects of floating fungi is needed.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.361-365
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• 2011

To evaluate the indoor air quality of food manufacturing plants, the presence of viable bacteria and fungi was assessed in the indoor air of the facilities at which 9 food items were manufactured. Air samples were collected from the general zone, low clean zone and clean zone of each factory with an air sampler, in combination with plate counts agar using for bacteria, and dichloran-glycerol agar for fungi. The samples were incubated at $25^{\circ}C$ for 4 to 7 days. After culture, the colony forming units (CFU) on each plate were counted and corrected with a positive hole conversion table. The average concentration of bacteria was $2.2{\times}10^3\;CFU/m^3$ in the general zone, $1.2{\times}10^3\;CFU/m^3$ in the low clean zone and $7.3{\times}10^2\;CFU/m^3$ in the clean zone. The average concentration of fungal microbes was $2.5{\times}10^3\;CFU/m^3$ in the general zone, $2.6{\times}10^3\;CFU/m^3$ in the low clean zone, and $2.0{\times}10^2\;CFU/m^3$ in the clean zone. No meaningful differences were detected between the general zone and the low clean zone, but the clean zone had significantly lower concentrations than the other zones. Additionally, the identification of the fungi was performed according to morphological method using a giant culture and slide culture. The fungi were identified as belonging to 18 genera, and the genera Cladosporium(33%), Penicillium(29%) and Aspergillus(26%), predominated. Aspergillus isolates were identified to species level, and A. ochraceus, a mycotoxigenic species, was identified. As part of the effort to control the quality of the indoor air of food manufacturing plants, our results show that continued studies are clearly warranted.