title: Air sampling of Aspergillus fumigatus and other thermotolerant fungi: comparative performance of the Sartorius MD8 airport and the Merck MAS-100 portable bioaerosol sampler.
abstract: The purpose of our field study was to compare the performance of two portable bioaerosol samplers (Sartorius MD8 airport, and Merck MAS-100) for sampling Aspergillus fumigatus and other airborne thermotolerant fungi. From October 2001 to November 2001, a total of 336 samples were analyzed at 12 sampling days. During the sampling period fungal plate counts ranged from <1 to 300 CFU/m(3) for total thermotolerant fungi and from <1 to 76 CFU/m(3) for A. fumigatus. As compared to the MD8, the relative recovery of the MAS 100 was 0.96 for total thermotolerant fungi and 0.84 for A. fumigatus. We found a good correlation (Pearson's r=0.94 for single, 0.95 for the mean of two, and 0.96 for the mean of three sequential samples) between both portable bioaerosol samplers. The spectrum of thermotolerat fungal genera and Aspergillus species showed only minor differences. We conclude that under the given conditions the results of both samplers are approximately comparable.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: steffen.engelhart@ukb.uni-bonn.de.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Engelhart
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glasmacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Exner
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D000391:Air Microbiology; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants