Evaluation of the fungal aerosol in Athens, Greece, based on spore analysis

The occurrence and the abundance of the airborne fungi in the city of Athens have been studied by a volumetric non-culture-based method. During a period of 4 years, 562 glass slides were exposed during 562 sampling days, by a Burkard portable air sampler. A total of 259,851 fungal spores have been recovered and assigned to 24 genera of filamentous fungi, in addition to those recorded as groups. The annual mean concentration (AMC) of the total fungi was 865, 1,212, 937 and 1,206 spores/m(3), and the concentration range was 89-3,175, 63-7,628, 62-4,323 and 29-10,187 spores/m(3) for each year, respectively. There is no statistically significant variation in the AMC and in the distribution patterns of the total fungi from year to year. The temporal variation of the total fungi and of the dominant genera Cladosporium and Alternaria presented a significant increase during the warm months of each year. The results of the present study compared with data available by a culture-based method confirmed the complementarity of the two sampling procedures. The non-culture-based method was more efficient for the quantification of the total fungal count as well as of the genera Cladosporium and Alternaria, although less effective for the quantification of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium.