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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Air quality in school buildings is of the utmost importance, due to the susceptibility of its users (mostly children) to several illnesses, such as asthma and allergies, creating a need for a protocol to assess air quality, and more specifically to assess fungal contamination. This study aims to perform a scoping review from 2000 to 2018 regarding the fungal contamination assessments performed on schools' indoor environment and to determine a protocol for fungal contamination assessment to be used by the competent authorities and researchers. A total of 21 studies were found. Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Alternaria were the fungal genera most often described as dominant. Several active and passive sampling methods were applied in the different studies, but only seven studies applied these methods in parallel. Also, in all the studies, only one analysis method was used, either culture-based methods coupled with microscopy or molecular detection. Multiple sampling campaigns were only performed in eight of the 21 studies. This article highlights the need for a more structured and reproducible method for fungal contamination assessment in school environments.
Description
Keywords
Environmental health Occupational exposure Active sampling Air quality Fungal analysis Fungal contamination assessment Passive sampling Sampling methods School environment
Citation
Almeida B, Viegas C. How to assess fungal contamination in school environments. In: Zaragoza O, Casadevall A, editors. Encyclopedia of mycology (Vol. 2). Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2021. p. 40-8.
Publisher
Elsevier