Measuring indoor fungal contaminants in rural West Bengal, India, with reference to allergy symptoms

An airborne fungal spore survey in five indoor environments in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India was carried out for a period of 2 years using the Astir 1-day personal volumetric sampler as well as a Rotorod sampler and sedimentation plates. A total of 24 fungal spore genera in addition to Aspergilli were recorded of which three were Phycomycetes (Cunninghamella, Rhizopus, Syncephalastrum),two were Ascomycetes (Chaetomium, Pleospora), one was Basidiomycete (Ganoderma) and the remainder were fungi imperfecti. Aspergillus contributed most to the total aerospora in the environment, followed by Curvularia and Cladosporium. The occurrence of aerospora exhibited a distinct seasonal periodicity in their annual distribution, perhaps due to differences in meteorological conditions. Concentrations were lowest in summer and highest during monsoon and postmonsoon periods. High concentration of spores in winter was due to a large number of saprophytic forms, of which Cladosporium was the major component. The predominance of Aspergillus, Curvularia, Cladosporium, Alternaria in all the indoor environments contributed to their ability to grow in various substrata. Moreover, indoor aeroflora might have been diluted by the outside aeroflora entering through different inlets. The clinical investigation clearly demonstrated the highly allergenic nature of the ten tested fungal antigens that may be due to a higher prevalence of such fungal forms in the surroundings of those tested. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.