title: Methods of sampling airborne fungi in working environments of waste treatment facilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the present study was to evaluate and compare the efficiency of a filter based sampling method and a high volume sampling method for sampling airborne culturable fungi present in waste sorting facilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Membrane filters method was compared with surface air system method. The selected sampling methods were modified and tested in 2 plastic waste sorting facilities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total number of colony-forming units (CFU)/m3 of airborne fungi was dependent on the type of sampling device, on the time of sampling, which was carried out every hour from the beginning of the work shift, and on the type of cultivation medium (p < 0.001). Detected concentrations of airborne fungi ranged 2×102-1.7×106 CFU/m3 when using the membrane filters (MF) method, and 3×102-6.4×104 CFU/m3 when using the surface air system (SAS) method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both methods showed comparable sensitivity to the fluctuations of the concentrations of airborne fungi during the work shifts. The SAS method is adequate for a fast indicative determination of concentration of airborne fungi. The MF method is suitable for thorough assessment of working environment contamination by airborne fungi. Therefore we recommend the MF method for the implementation of a uniform standard methodology of airborne fungi sampling in working environments of waste treatment facilities.
authors.affiliation: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Ecology). cernakristyna@fzp.czu.cz.
authors.forename: Kristýna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Černá
authors.affiliation: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Ecology).
authors.forename: Zdeňka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wittlingerová
authors.affiliation: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Ecology).
authors.forename: Magdaléna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimová
authors.affiliation: Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (Faculty of Science, Department of Botany).
authors.forename: Zdeněk
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Janovský
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational
keywords: airborne fungi; filter based bioaerosol sampling; plastics; surface air system method; waste sorting facility; working environment