1. Presence and variability of culturable bioaerosols in three multi‐family apartment buildings with different ventilation systems in the Northeastern US
- Author
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Gediminas Mainelis, Clinton J. Andrews, Leonardo Calderón, Uta Krogmann, Jie Gong, Jennifer Senick, Mary Ann Sorensen-Allacci, Youyou Xiong, Brian Pavilonis, Zuocheng Wang, Deborah Plotnik, and Nirmala T. Myers
- Subjects
Environmental Engineering ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Indoor bioaerosol ,Air Microbiology ,010501 environmental sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Article ,law.invention ,Heating ,Toxicology ,law ,HVAC ,medicine ,Humans ,Air Conditioning ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Bacteria ,Apartment ,business.industry ,Fungi ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Building and Construction ,Seasonality ,medicine.disease ,Ventilation ,Air Filters ,Air Pollution, Indoor ,Ventilation (architecture) ,Housing ,Environmental science ,Particulate Matter ,Seasons ,business ,Environmental Monitoring ,Bioaerosol - Abstract
Bioaerosol concentrations in residential buildings located in the Northeastern US have not been widely studied. Here, in 2011-2015, we studied the presence and seasonal variability of culturable fungi and bacteria in three multi-family apartment buildings and correlated the bioaerosol concentrations with building ventilation system types and environmental parameters. A total of 409 indoor and 86 outdoor samples were taken. Eighty-five percent of investigated apartments had indoor-outdoor (I/O) ratios of culturable fungi below 1, suggesting minimal indoor sources of fungi. In contrast, 56% of the apartments had I/O ratios for culturable bacteria above 1, indicating the prominence of indoor sources of bacteria. Culturable fungi I/O ratios in apartments serviced by central heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system were lower than those in apartments with window AC. The type of ventilation system did not have a significant effect on the presence of indoor culturable bacteria. A significant positive association was determined between indoor dew point (DP) levels and indoor culturable fungi (P
- Published
- 2020
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