Assessment of culturable airborne bacteria of indoor environments in classrooms, dormitories and dining hall at universi
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Assessment of culturable airborne bacteria of indoor environments in classrooms, dormitories and dining hall at university: a case study in China Yanju Li . Yanhui Ge . Chunbin Wu . Dexing Guan . Jinbao Liu . Fuyang Wang
Received: 7 August 2019 / Accepted: 21 February 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract University students’ health may be adversely affected by exposure to indoor bacterial contaminants on their campuses. This study aims (1) to quantify culturable bacterial concentrations in three indoor environments at a university, (2) to investigate the influence of meteorological factors and gender, to assess the relationship between indoor and outdoor, and (3) to estimate the bacterial dose for university students in different indoor environments. Airborne bacteria samples were collected in 12 classrooms, in 12 living rooms and four bathrooms in two dormitory buildings, and in a dining hall. The results showed that the microenvironment in the female dormitory had the highest mean bacterial concentration (2847 CFU/m3), whereas the lowest mean bacterial concentration was observed in classrooms (162 CFU/m3). Indoor bacterial concentrations in male dormitories were significantly lower than in female dormitories probably because of crowding and increased ventilation. Outdoor weather conditions were associated with the
Yanju Li and Yanhui Ge have equally contributed to this work. Y. Li (&) C. Wu D. Guan School of Energy and Safety Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin, China e-mail: [email protected] Y. Ge (&) J. Liu F. Wang School of Environmental Science and Safety Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China e-mail: [email protected]
indoor concentrations with regard to insufficient ventilation and varying outdoor concentration. The occupants’ activity level was also more closely related to the indoor bacteria concentration in the residential setting. Students experienced about four times higher dose of airborne bacteria in the dormitories than in the classrooms and dining hall. Keywords Indoor environment Bacterial contaminant I/O ratio Gender Dose of airborne bacteria
1 Introduction Currently, people spend more than 90% of their time in indoor environments (Klepeis et al. 2001), and increasing attention has been attracted to the assessment of indoor biological pollutants since the increasing of sick building syndrome (Sahlberg et al. 2013) and building-related illnesses (Squinazi 1990) and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza. There is growing evidence that indoor airborne bacteria, or bioaerosols, as a major factor in human health and comfort according to numerous epidemiological studies (Ege et al. 2011; Mendell et al. 2011; Madureira et al. 2015; Heinrich 2011; Yu et al. 2011; Keski-Nisula et al. 2009) are widely present in indoor environments (Despre´ et al. 2012).
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Aerobiologia
In recent years, over seven million students have graduated annually
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