title: Bioaerosols in residential micro-environments in low income countries: a case study from Pakistan.
abstract: Our knowledge of the concentrations of bioaerosols in residential micro-environments in low income countries is scanty. The present investigation was conducted to assess the culturable concentration and size distribution of bacteria, gram negative bacteria and fungi in two rural and an urban site in Pakistan. The highest indoor culturable bacteria concentration was found at Rural Site II (14,650 CFU/m3) while the outdoor maximum occurred at the urban site (16,416 CFU/m3). With reference to fungi, both indoor and outdoor concentrations were considerably higher at Rural Site I than the other sites. The size distribution of culturable bacteria at all sites showed greater variability than that of culturable fungi. At all sites more than the half (55-93%) of the culturable bacterial and fungal counts were observed in the respirable fraction (<4.7 μm) and so had the potential to penetrate into lower respiratory system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ, UK.
authors.forename: Zaheer Ahmad
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Nasir
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Colbeck
authors.forename: Sikander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sultan
authors.forename: Shakil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000391:Air Microbiology; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001419:Bacteria; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005658:Fungi; D006798:Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010154:Pakistan; D011203:Poverty; D012424:Rural Population
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants