Temporal variation of airborne fungi in university library rooms and its relation to environmental parameters and potent
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Temporal variation of airborne fungi in university library rooms and its relation to environmental parameters and potential confounders Dingmeng Wu 1,2 & Ying Zhang 2 & Chenbo Zhao 2 & Angui Li 2 & Li’an Hou 2 & Yu Tian 2 & Jing Xiong 1,2 & Ran Gao 2 Received: 18 August 2020 / Accepted: 6 November 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Indoor airborne fungi have been associated with adverse human health effects. Therefore, it is important to understand the causes of underlying variation in airborne fungi in indoor environments. This study consequently aimed to investigate the association between indoor fungi with temporal variation, environmental parameters, and potential confounders over 10 months in four library rooms using Andersen samplers. Indoor fungal concentrations peaked in October and were lowest in March in both stack rooms, whereas the highest concentrations in both reading rooms were observed in September with lowest concentrations in July. Nonparametric analyses revealed higher fungal concentrations in the rooms that were significantly associated with relative humidity ≥ 60%, PM2.5 ≥ 35 μg/m3, number of people ≥ 16, open windows, working air conditioners, and room area < 400 m2. Multiple linear regression modeling for the library building considering only continuous variables revealed that relative humidity, PM2.5, and the number of people were significant predictors of fungal concentrations. Additionally, the model with continuous and categorical variables suggested that relative humidity, PM2.5, the number of people, ceiling fan condition, window state, and air conditioner operating status were significant predictor variables of concentrations. Outdoor fungal concentrations were a significant predictor for the two models of indoor fungal concentrations for each room. Ceiling fan or air conditioner operation was associated with altered fungal particle concentrations. These results provide a deeper understanding of indoor air fungal quality. Keywords Airborne fungi . Temporal variation . Environmental parameters . Potential confounders . Nonparametric test . Multiple linear regression
Introduction Airborne microorganisms comprise bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present in indoor air (Abbasi and Samaei 2019). Among these, fungi are a particularly important
Responsible editor: Diane Purchase * Angui Li [email protected] 1
School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
2
Present address: School of Building Services Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
group of microorganisms present in indoor environments (Nevalainen et al. 2015). Airborne fungi are common contaminants in indoor air environments (Liu et al. 2018; Miller 1992) and are associated with several diseases (Horner et al. 1995; Luhung et al. 2018; Yamamoto et al. 2012). H
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