Six-day measurement of size-resolved indoor fluorescent bioaerosols of outdoor origin in an office

Abstract

Indoor airborne bioaerosols of outdoor origin play an important role in determining the exposure of humans to bioaerosols because people spend most of their time indoors. However, there are few studies focusing on indoor bioaerosols originating from outdoors. In this study, indoor versus outdoor size-resolved concentrations and particle asymmetry factors of airborne fluorescent bioaerosols in an office room were measured continuously for 6days (144h) using a fluorescent bioaerosol detector. The windows and door of this room were closed to ensure that there was only air infiltration; moreover, any human activities were ceased during sampling to inhibit effects of indoor sources. We focused on fine particles, since few coarse particles enter indoor environments, when windows and doors are closed. Both indoor and outdoor fluorescent bioaerosol size distributions were fit with two-mode lognormal distributions (indoor R2=0.935, outdoor R2=0.938). Asymmetry factor distributions were also fit with lognormal distributions (indoor R2=0.992, outdoor R2=0.992). Correlations between indoor and outdoor fluorescent bioaerosol concentrations show significant concentration-attenuation and a time lag during the study period. A two-parameter, semi-empirical model was used to predict concentrations of indoor fluorescent bioaerosols of outdoor origin. The measured and predicted concentrations had a linear relationship for the studied size fractions, with an R2 for all size fractions of larger than 0.83.