Airborne microfungi from eastern Canadian sawmills

Working in sawmills is associated with bioaerosol exposure and respiratory health problems. This study is the first to analyze the mycoflora of easter n Canadian sawmills and the nature of airborne contamination at different w ork sites. Fifty work sites (debarking, sawing, planing, and sorting) withi n 17 sawmills were sampled for airborne microfungi. One thousand seven hund red strains were isolated, quantified to determine the frequency of occurre nce, and then identified. Unlike the European studies, we did not frequentl y identify the presence of fungi that were described in European sawmills a s being related to respiratory health problems. In eastern Canadian sawmill s, Penicillium species are the most frequently isolated microfungi.