Hygienic assessment of mycological contamination of the internal environment of residential and public buildings

The paper presents the results of a comprehensive hygienic assessment of the fungal contamination of the internal environment of the premises of residential and public buildings and developed proposals for the methodology for conducting mycological examination of indoor air and building structures.

Materials and methods. The objects of research were urban atmospheric air, residential apartments, and office premises with and without fungal infection of wall structures, medical premises for various purposes. The studies included determination of the number of microscopic fungi in 1 m³ of air (CFU/m³); determination of the content of viable fungal flora in scrapings and in swabs from places suspected of having a fungal infection; measurements of humidity of enclosing structures and microclimatic parameters of the indoor air environment; evaluation of the ventilation system.

Results. The concentration of microscopic fungi in indoor air without fungal infection of wall structures was shown to depend on fungal pollution of atmospheric air. The peak of fungal air pollution in unaffected rooms and the ambient air, was detected over the spring-summer season. In residential apartments and office premises of public buildings with fungal infection of wall structures, the content of microscopic fungi in the air, regardless of the season, was tens and hundreds of times higher than the content of fungal flora in the air of “healthy” premises and in the atmospheric air. Fungal air pollution in residential and office premises is mainly associated with fungi of the Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Rizopus genera in wards, treatment and diagnostic rooms — yeast-like fungi of the genus Candida.

Limitations. The results of the study do not apply to the production facilities of biological industry enterprises, livestock and poultry complexes.

Conclusion. The necessity of conducting a mycological examination of premises has been substantiated, and a draft of methodological recommendations for conducting mycological examinations of indoor air and building structures has been developed.

Contributions:
Kalinina N.V. — concept and design of the study; data collection and processing, text writing;
Zagainova A.V. — concept and design of the study;
Yudin S.M. — editing;
Gaponova E.B. — data collection and processing;
Banin I.M. — data collection and processing, statistical processing.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: May 4, 2023 / Accepted: June 7, 2023 / Published: August 30, 2023