Occurrence of microbes causing respiratory ailments in a garden of Davangere

Abstract

An investigation of the quality of air and the quantity of airborne microbes in one of the gardens of Davanagere was conducted for 1 year to assess the level of airborne pathogens. The main aim of this work was to determine the microbiological content of the aerial ambience in the garden of Davangere, with special focus on bacterial and fungal contaminants. The media used for the study of fungi was Sabaroud chloramphenicol agar. Aspergillus spp, Curvularia spp, Alternaria spp, Penicillium spp, Rhizopus spp, Nigrospora spp, Fusarium spp, Mucor spp and Cladosporium spp were commonly found in the selected six sampled areas of the garden; of these, Asergillus spp, Penicillium spp and Pithomyces spp were found to be dominant. The concentration level of airborne bacteria was also measured with proper media. Selected bacterial genera such as Escherichia coli , Klebsialla spp, Pseudomonas spp, Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus spp, Proteus spp and Enterococcus spp were found in the garden. In the sampling, bacterial counts were influenced by temperature while aerosol fungi correlated to temperature and relative humidity. Taking into consideration the entire assay, the concentration of the fungi was considerably high in the winter and rainy season whereas the concentration of bacteria was remarkably high in the summer season.