Abstract
The airborne indoor pollen in a hospital of Badajoz (Spain) was monitored over two years using a personal Burkard sampler. The air was sampled in four places indoors—one closed room and one open ward on each of the ground and the third floors—and one place outdoors at the entrance to the hospital. The results were compared with data from a continuous volumetric sampler. While 32 pollen types were identified, nearly 75% of the total counts were represented by just five of them. These were: Quercus, Cupressaceae, Poaceae, Olea, and Plantago. The average indoor concentration was 25.2 grains/m3, and the average indoor/outdoor ratio was 0.27. A strong seasonal pattern was found, with the highest levels in spring and winter, and the indoor concentrations were correlated with the outdoor one. Indoor air movement led to great homogeneity in the airborne pollen presence: the indoor results were not influenced by whether or not the room was isolated, the floor level, or the number of people in or transiting the site during sampling. The presence of ornamental vegetation in the area surrounding the building affected the indoor counts directly as sources of the pollen.
Highlights
Indoor bioaerosols have been investigated worldwide, mainly because we humans spend most of our time indoors, the fraction for industrialized countries ranging from 80% [1,2] to 95% [3]
The emphasis has shifted, to exposure in indoor environments [7,8], and pollens as bioaerosols are often not considered in air pollution studies their concentration may measured in air quality standards [9]
The average indoor/outdoor ratio (I/O) ratio found in the present work (0.27) is higher than most values reported in the literature: 0.02 [19,25], 0.025 [33], 0.041 [24], 0.05 [15,20], 0.083 [29], and 0.24 [3]
Summary
Indoor bioaerosols have been investigated worldwide, mainly because we humans spend most of our time indoors, the fraction for industrialized countries ranging from 80% [1,2] to 95% [3]. These studies have mainly been concerned with airborne fungi, while the indoor airborne presence of pollen grains has received less attention. Exposure to substances found in the indoor environment is known to trigger such respiratory illnesses as asthma. Studies of the association between human illness and environmental exposure focused initially on the outdoor environment in the form of pollen and mould counts. The emphasis has shifted, to exposure in indoor environments [7,8], and pollens as bioaerosols are often not considered in air pollution studies their concentration may measured in air quality standards [9]
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