MICROBIOLOGICAL INDOOR AIR-QUALITY IN SUBTROPICAL AREAS

In Taiwan, a subtropical country, bioaerosols are regarded to be quick to grow, because of high relative humidity and high temperature all y ear around. Field investigations of microbiological indoor air quality were performed in six apartments in the Taipei area. Two-stage Anders en viable impactors were used to determine the concentration, genus, a nd respirable fraction of fungi indoors and outdoors. The fungi charac teristics in living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoors were compared. The concentrations of indoor and outdoor fungi in diff erent locations of the six apartments were found to vary widely. The g eomentric mean concentrations of indoor and outdoor fungi were higher than 1000 CFU m-3. Moreover, more than 80% of indoor and outdoor fungi were observed to be respirable. In addition, the ratios of indoor to outdoor fungi concentrations were too low to indicate the presence of any indoor fungi sources. In some homes, the concentrations of the ast hma-related fungi genus, Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Cladosporium, w ere found to exceed 500 CFU m-3.