Development of a simple method for monitoring air-borne fungi in houses

空气传播的真菌会引起健康问题，例如过敏性哮喘。由于测量空气传播真菌浓度的方法多种多样，因此难以比较不同测量方法测量的结果。本研究开发了一种简单、廉价、易操作的监测方法，利用现有的空气采样器，考察了采样器的重复性、采样量和气流对采样效率的影响，并确定了采样器之间的关系。确定了气传真菌测定所需的准确度。确定了将附着在垂直采样面上的气传真菌孢子收集在琼脂平板上的方法的基本概念。结果表明，PET法的CFU数最高，变异系数最低。不同导体之间的差异不显著，并定义了简易方法的采样效率。从测量结果来看，预计合适的暴露时间为一周到两周。当风速小于0.5m/s时，风速对采样器的影响可以忽略不计。在相对湿度大于35%的情况下，采样器表面带电量对采样效率的影响可以忽略不计。为了减少由于采样器暴露前消毒不充分和个体压力差异造成的无效采样，改进了方法，用装有乙醇蒸气的样品箱，在25 g/cm ^2的压力下称重，使无效样品的百分比降低到20.

Air-borne fungi cause health problems e.g. allergic asthma. Since there are various methods to measure the concentration of air-borne fungi, it is difficult to compare the results measured by different measurement methods. In this study, a simple monitoring method which is cheap and easy to handle has been developedUsing existing air samplers the reproducibility, the effects of sampling volume and airflow on the sampling efficiency were examined and the relationships between the samplers were identified. The accuracy which was required for measurement of air-borne fungi was also identified. The basic concept of the method was determined in which Air-borne fungi spores adhering on the vertical sampling faces are collected on agar plate. It was found that the number of CFU with PET was the highest and the coefficient of variance of the number of CFU with PET was the lowest. The difference between the conductors was not significant.The sampling efficiency of the simple method was defined. From the results of the measurements, the suitable exposure time was expected from one week to two weeks. The effects of air velocity against the sampler could be disregarded in case the air velocity was lower than 0.5m/s. the effects of electrical charged amount on the sampler surface on sampling efficiency could be disregarded in case the relative humidity was higher than 35%.In order to reduce invalid samplings which are caused by inadequate sterilization of samplers before exposure and individual difference in pressure, the method was modified by using a sample case filled with ethanol vapor and weight for 25 g/cm^2 of pressure.This modification reduces percentage of invalid samples to 20%.