Fungi in the indoor air of critical hospital areas: a review
AbstractInvasive fungal infection is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in neonates, especially in low-birthweight neonates. The contribution of fungi in the indoor air to the incidence of mucocutaneous colonization and to the risk of invasive fungal infection in this population is uncertain. This review aimed to identify and to summarize the best available evidence on the fungal contamination in the indoor air of critical hospital areas with an emphasis on pediatric/neonatal ICUs. Publications from 2005 to 2019 were searched in the databases Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), US National Library of ...
Source: Aerobiologia - May 14, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Airborne sub-pollen particles from rupturing giant ragweed pollen
AbstractRagweed pollen is a prevalent allergen in late summer and autumn, worsening seasonal allergic rhinitis and asthma symptoms. In the atmosphere, pollen can osmotically rupture to produce sub-pollen particles (SPP). Because of their smaller size, SPP can penetrate deeper into the respiratory tract than intact pollen grains and may trigger severe cases of asthma. Here we characterize airborne SPP forming from rupturing giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) pollen for the first time, using scanning electron microscopy and single-particle fluorescence spectroscopy. SPP ranged in diameter from 20 nm to 6.5 μm. Most SPP are...
Source: Aerobiologia - May 5, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Community structure of environmental microorganisms associated with COVID-19 affected patients
AbstractTo clarify the characteristics and distribution of hospital environmental microbiome associated with confirmed COVID-19 patients. Environmental samples with varying degrees of contamination which were associated with confirmed COVID-19 patients were collected, including 13 aerosol samples collected near eight patients in different wards, five swabs from one patient ’s skin and his personal belongings, and two swabs from the surface of positive pressure respiratory protective hood and the face shield from a physician who had close contact with one patient. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was used to ...
Source: Aerobiologia - May 4, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Estimating the allergenic potential of urban green areas in the city of Madrid (Spain)
AbstractUrban green spaces offer large environmental, social, and economic benefits for the population. However, when species that compose it are chosen, its allergenicity is not usually considered, which poses a risk to the population with pollinosis. In this work, the potential allergenicity index (IUGZA) of five urban parks in the city of Madrid (Spain) has been calculated, in order to assess their allergenic potential and to identify the species that most contribute to increasing it. The results show that three of the parks register an index value sufficient high to cause adverse reactions in the exposed population. Th...
Source: Aerobiologia - April 24, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Unusually high birch ( Betula spp.) pollen concentrations in Poland in 2016 related to long-range transport (LRT) and the regional pollen occurrence
AbstractIn 2016, the highest birch (Betula spp.) pollen concentrations were recorded in Krak ów (Poland) since the beginning of pollen observations in 1991. The aim of this study was to ascertain the reason for this phenomenon, taking the local sources of pollen in Poland and long-range transport (LRT) episodes associated with the pollen influx from other European countries into account. T hree periods of higher pollen concentrations in Kraków in 2016 were investigated with the use of pollen data, phenological data, meteorological data and the HYSPLIT numerical model to calculate trajectories up to 4 days back (96 h) a...
Source: Aerobiologia - April 16, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Bioaerosols in public and tourist buses
AbstractPublic bus system worldwide transports daily more than 34 million people; therefore, air quality inside buses is an important urban air pollution issue. Airborne microbiological composition and abundance was examined inside five different fuel type buses (diesel (EURO IV and EURO V), hybrid diesel (HD), compressed natural gas (CNG), hybrid natural gas (HCNG) and electric vehicle (EV)) from Barcelona bus system, inside and outside the tourist bus and different periods of campaigns (summer: May –September and winter: November–March). Quantitative PCR was used to quantify total bacteria,Penicillium/Aspergillus and...
Source: Aerobiologia - April 9, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Airborne pollen trends in T étouan (NW of Morocco)
AbstractTrends of the airborne annual pollen integral (APIn) and pollen season of principal woody and herbaceous plants in T étouan were analysed over a 10-year monitoring period (2008–2017). Pollen was continuously sampled by means of a 7-day recording volumetric pollen trap by Burkard. Pollen trends were analysed by using Mann–Kendall tests and Sen’s slope. Aerobiological data were correlated with temperature and rainfall. A significant decreasing trend in annual minimum temperature was revealed together with significant decreasing trends in the APIn observed for Cupressaceae,Cannabis,Parietaria,Pinus andQuercus, ...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 26, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Characterisation of pollen seasons in Iceland based on long-term observations: 1988 –2018
AbstractThis paper describes a long-term (1988 –2018) data series from pollen monitoring in two locations in Iceland: Akureyri and Reykjavík. Our data showed a low diversity of airborne pollen present in the aeroplankton of Iceland. We showed thatBetula spp. andPoaceae can be considered the main pollen allergens in Iceland. BothBetula spp. andPoaceae pollen seasons in Iceland are characterised by a late onset compared to continental Europe.Betula spp. seasons are further characterised by a longer duration and low SPI and peak values. IcelandicPoaceae seasons are shorter, but have SPI and peak values comparable to those ...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 26, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Spatial distribution of fungi from the analysis of aerobiological data with a gamma function
AbstractFungi are an important component of ecosystems. Some fungi are widely distributed, while others are limited to certain habitats. Studies based on airborne fungal spores can help to know the geographical distribution of fungi in the territory. Our aim was to show that a gamma probability density function (gpdf) based on a database of 20 airborne fungal spore taxa concentrations in eight localities of Catalonia (NE Spain) for a period of 20 years was a useful tool to map the distribution of these taxa in this region, as well as to establish a general classification on their sporulation through the alpha parameter o...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 19, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Efficiency of bioaerosol samplers: a comparison study
AbstractBioaerosols, including bacteria and fungi, are ubiquitous and have been shown to impact various organisms as well as biogeochemical cycles and human health. However, sample collection poses a challenge for aeromicrobiologists and can determine the success of a study. Establishing a standard collection procedure for bioaerosol sampling could help advance the field. We tested the efficiency (number of organisms collected and DNA yield per unit time) of three sampling devices: a membrane filtration device, a liquid impinger, and a portable electrostatic precipitator bioaerosol collector. We compared the efficiency o...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 19, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Forecasting Betula and Poaceae airborne pollen concentrations on a 3-hourly resolution in Augsburg, Germany: toward automatically generated, real-time predictions
AbstractAirborne allergenic pollen impact the health of a great part of the global population. Under climate change conditions, the abundance of airborne pollen has been rising dramatically and so is the effect on sensitized individuals. The first line of allergy management is allergen avoidance, which, to date, is by rule achieved via forecasting of daily pollen concentrations. The aim of this study was to elaborate on 3-hourly predictive models, one of the very few to the best of our knowledge, attempting to forecast pollen concentration based on near-real-time automatic pollen measurements. The study was conducted in Au...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 16, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Viable and not viable spore concentrations in National Gallery of Umbria (Italy)
AbstractThe conservation actions towards artworks holding a common patrimony for the community are of primary importance, but also those related to their"container" as museums, libraries or archives are to consider. Fungal spores and bacteria carried by air flows to the artwork surface can colonize it causing biodeterioration through physical and/or chemical alterations of the materials with the irreversible loss of their value. The quality control of the indoor air surrounding the historic building is essential, as well as for the protection and conservation of the artwork, also for the protection of the health ...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 15, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Airborne fungal spore monitoring: between analyst proficiency testing
This study presents the results of a Europe-wide training and Quality Control (QC) exercise carried out within the framework of the European Aerobiology Society ’s QC Working Group. The main aim of this exercise was to examine the feasibility of carrying out a QC exercise for fungal spore monitoring in Europe, using a similar methodology to the one previously used for pollen. The QC survey was conducted in two parts: (1) Coordinators of national and regio nal aerobiological networks in Europe involved in the monitoring of atmospheric fungal spores were invited to complete a questionnaire survey related to their network a...
Source: Aerobiologia - March 1, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Live pine pollen in rainwater: reconstructing its long-range transport
AbstractRaindrops brim with pollen even when there is no ambient local pollen. How does this nonlocal pollen get inside rain? The likely answer is long-range transport beneath or inside clouds. To test this hypothesis, we captured rain-delivered pollen on Ocracoke Island, NC, USA over a 12-day interval before local pine pollen release then reconstructed its trajectory and its atmospheric exposure conditions. Findings were as follows: four rain episodes yielded a total of 632 pollen grains of which 6.7% germinated. To find pollen sources, we first identified pollen-releasing forested areas using a predictive heat sum equati...
Source: Aerobiologia - February 25, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Analysis of airborne pollen time series originating from Hirst-type volumetric samplers —comparison between mobile sampling head oriented toward wind direction and fixed sampling head with two-layered inlet
In this study, we have compared time series of pollen concentration originating from two Hirst-type volumetric samplers that were equipped with different sampling heads. To collect airborne pollen, we have used classic sampler with mobile sampling head including wind vane and adapted sampler with fixed sampling head having two-layered inlet, like in Sigma-2 passive sampler. The devices were placed at the roof level, on the top of the building of the Faculty of Sciences located in Novi Sad, Serbia. The sampling of airborne pollen was performed from February until October 2019. Along with the pollen data, meteorological cond...
Source: Aerobiologia - February 18, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
