TY - JOUR
T1 - Analysis of surfaces for characterization of fungal burden
T2 - Does it matter?
AU - Viegas, Carla
AU - Faria, Tiago
AU - Meneses, Márcia
AU - Carolino, Elisabete
AU - Viegas, Susana
AU - Gomes, Anita Quintal
AU - Sabino, Raquel
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Objectives: Mycological contamination of occupational environments can be a result of fungal spores' dispersion in the air and on surfaces. Therefore, it is very important to assess it in both types of the samples. In the present study we assessed fungal contamination in the air and in the surface samples to show relevance of surfaces sampling in complementing the results obtained in the air samples. Material and Methods: In total, 42 settings were assessed by the analysis of air and surfaces samples. The settings were divided into settings with a high fungal load (7 poultry farms and 7 pig farms, 3 cork industries, 3 waste management plants, 2 wastewater treatment plants and 1 horse stable) and a low fungal load (10 hospital canteens, 8 college canteens and 1 maternity hospital). In addition to culture-based methods, molecular tools were also applied to detect fungal burden in the settings with a higher fungal load. Results: From the 218 sampling sites, 140 (64.2%) presented different species in the examined surfaces when compared with the species identified in the air. A positive association in the high fungal load settings was found between the presence of different species in the air and surfaces. Wastewater treatment plants constituted the setting with the highest number of different species between the air and surface. Conclusions: We observed that surfaces sampling and application of molecular tools showed the same efficacy of species detection in high fungal load settings, corroborating the fact that surface sampling is crucial for a correct and complete analysis of occupational scenarios.
AB - Objectives: Mycological contamination of occupational environments can be a result of fungal spores' dispersion in the air and on surfaces. Therefore, it is very important to assess it in both types of the samples. In the present study we assessed fungal contamination in the air and in the surface samples to show relevance of surfaces sampling in complementing the results obtained in the air samples. Material and Methods: In total, 42 settings were assessed by the analysis of air and surfaces samples. The settings were divided into settings with a high fungal load (7 poultry farms and 7 pig farms, 3 cork industries, 3 waste management plants, 2 wastewater treatment plants and 1 horse stable) and a low fungal load (10 hospital canteens, 8 college canteens and 1 maternity hospital). In addition to culture-based methods, molecular tools were also applied to detect fungal burden in the settings with a higher fungal load. Results: From the 218 sampling sites, 140 (64.2%) presented different species in the examined surfaces when compared with the species identified in the air. A positive association in the high fungal load settings was found between the presence of different species in the air and surfaces. Wastewater treatment plants constituted the setting with the highest number of different species between the air and surface. Conclusions: We observed that surfaces sampling and application of molecular tools showed the same efficacy of species detection in high fungal load settings, corroborating the fact that surface sampling is crucial for a correct and complete analysis of occupational scenarios.
KW - Air samples
KW - Fungal burden assessment
KW - High fungal load settings
KW - Low fungal load settings
KW - Occupational environments
KW - Surface samples
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015648198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.13075/ijomeh.1896.00562
DO - 10.13075/ijomeh.1896.00562
M3 - Article
C2 - 27443758
AN - SCOPUS:85015648198
SN - 1232-1087
VL - 29
SP - 623
EP - 632
JO - International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
JF - International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
IS - 4
ER -