A three-year-survey of microfungi in the air of Copenhagen 1977-79.
The presence and prevalence of common saprophytic airborne microfungi has been studied. Since August 1977 culturable microfungi in the outdoor air of Copenhagen have been monitored. The method used is a volumetric analysis by means of a Biap Slit-Sampler. The microfungal flora was dominated by very few genera, thus Cladosporium, Alternaria, Penicillium and Aspergillus make up 86.8% of the organisms collected. The mere number of microfungal spores might be misleading as a guide to the relative importance of atmospheric allergens. An alternative or a supplementary parameters could be the spore substance expressed as cubic spore substance/m3 of air, as suggested by Hyde (20). Most fungi show a seasonal dependence as well as fluctuations from year to year. The high season for living microfungi is found to be from June until October. The microfungi thus constitute a prolongation of the pollen season, a fact of importance in relation to patients suffering from inhalation-allergy.
D000391:Air Microbiology; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003718:Denmark; D005658:Fungi / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D012621:Seasons
D000485:Allergens