Prospective survey of indoor fungal contamination in hospital during a period of building construction.
An 18-month survey of indoor fungal contamination was conducted in one haematology unit during a period of construction work. Air was sampled with a portable Air System Impactor and surfaces with contact Sabouraud plates. During this survey the mean concentration of viable fungi in air was 4.2 cfu/m(3) and that for surfaces was 1.7 cfu/plate. At the beginning of construction work, there were increases in airborne fungal spores (from 3.0 to 9.8 cfu/m(3)) in the unit, but concentrations did not exceed 10 cfu/m(3) during the 18-month period. The most frequently recovered airborne fungi were Penicillium spp. (27-38%), Aspergillus spp. (25%) and Bjerkandera adusta, a basidiomycete identified with molecular tools (7-12%). Blastomycetes accounted for more than 50% of the fungal flora on surfaces. Investigating the impact of a new air-treatment system (mobile Plasmair units), there were significant reductions in fungal contamination for the Plasmer -treated rooms, and in these rooms we observed the same level of fungal load whether construction work was in progress or not.
Sautour
M
M
Parasitology and Mycology Laboratory, Hôpital du Bocage, BP 77908, 21079 Dijon Cedex, France. marc.sautour@u-bourgogne.fr
Sixt
N
N
Dalle
F
F
L'ollivier
C
C
Calinon
C
C
Fourquenet
V
V
Thibaut
C
C
Jury
H
H
Lafon
I
I
Aho
S
S
Couillault
G
G
Vagner
O
O
Cuisenier
B
B
Besancenot
J-P
JP
Caillot
D
D
Bonnin
A
A
D000389:Air Conditioning / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000391:Air Microbiology; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006749:Hospital Design and Construction; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D010362:Patients' Rooms; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014691:Ventilation