Abstract
The study of the fungal community composition in house dust is useful to assess the accumulative exposure to fungi in indoor environments. The objective of this research was to characterize the fungal diversity of house dust and its association with the environmental conditions of bedrooms. For this, the dust was collected from 41 bedrooms of children between the ages of 8 and 9 with a family history of asthma, residents of Havana, Cuba. The fungal content of each sample was determined by two methods: plate culture with malt extract agar and by direct microscopy. An ecological analysis was carried out from the fungal diversity detected. To describe the factors associated with the fungi detected, bivariate logistic regression was used. Through direct microscopy, between 10 and 2311 fragments of hyphae and spores corresponding mainly to Cladosporium, Coprinus, Curvularia, Aspergillus/Penicillium, Xylariaceae, and Periconia were identified. Through the culture, 0-208 CFU were quantified, where Aspergillus, Cladosporium, and Penicillium predominated. The culturability evidenced the differences between the quantification determined by both methods. A positive relationship was found between the type of cleaning of the furniture, the presence of trees in front of the bedroom, indoor relative humidity, indoor temperature, the presence of air conditioning, and natural ventilation with specific spore types and genera. The use of two different identification methods allowed to detect a greater fungal diversity in the residences evaluated. Monitoring the exposure to these fungal allergens in childhood can help to prevent sensitization in the allergic child, the development of asthma, and other respiratory diseases.
Highlights
Household dust contains organic and inorganic matter, and is the largest reservoir of microorganisms in indoor environments (Dassonville et al 2008; Macher 2001). Piecková and Wilkins (2004) reported that dust inside houses can be made up of 82% organic matter, in contrast to 18% that contains dust from outside
Through direct microscopy 10–2311 spores and hyphal fragments were counted in the dust from the studied bedrooms
Bivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between total fungal propagules and those with a relative frequency greater than 40%
Summary
Household dust contains organic and inorganic matter, and is the largest reservoir of microorganisms in indoor environments (Dassonville et al 2008; Macher 2001). Piecková and Wilkins (2004) reported that dust inside houses can be made up of 82% organic matter, in contrast to 18% that contains dust from outside. The fungal genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Alternaria have predominated in studies that analyze dust from residences located in different climatic regions (Shinohara et al 2018; Shan et al 2019; Andersen et al 2021). These investigations have raised the relationship of high fungal diversity with extrinsic factors such as season of the year, winds and rainfall, and with intrinsic factors like human activity, temperature, relative humidity (RH), and indoor nutrient source (Ja Cho et al 2008; Dallongeville et al 2015). The hyphal fragments are the first to lose their viability, while the spores persist for a longer time, even some survival structures can remain viable for decades (Rintala et al 2012)
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