Fungal contaminations of indoor and outdoor air of buildings of the University of Cape Coast,Ghana

The presence of microscopic spores in the air affects the quality of air inhaled by animals including humans.Microbial contamination of air impacts the well-being of occupants of an indoor environment,sometimes with dire consequences.The study investigated fungal contaminations of indoor and outdoor air of the Hospital,Library and Senior Common Room(SCR)of the University of Cape Coast,Ghana.Indoor and outdoor air was sampled using the Koch’s sedimentation method.Colony forming units per cubic meter of air(cfu/m^(3))were determined with the Omeliansky formula.The isolated fungi were identified based on morphological and growth characteristics.For indoor air,the least colony counts were recorded in the SCR for both morning and afternoon samples,whilst the Hospital air had the highest colony counts.For outdoor air,the colony counts were lower in SCR and the Library for both morning and afternoon samples compared to the Hospital.The results further indicated that indoor concentrations of fungi,for morning and afternoon,ranged between 4.0x10^(4) and 2.1x10^(5) cfu/m^(3),whereas outdoor concentrations of fungi ranged between 1.1x105 and 3.0x10^(5) cfu/m^(3),revealing an overall higher levels of contamination of outdoor air than indoor air at all the three buildings.Consequently,estimated indoor/outdoor(I/O)concentration ratios of fungi revealed an exogenous source of indoor contaminations at all the three buildings sampled.Fungi isolated from indoor and outdoor air were of the genera Aspergillus,Curvularia,Cylindrocarpon,Fusarium,Mucor,Neurospora,Penicillium and Rhodotorula.We conclude that indoor and outdoor air of the buildings sampled were contaminated with airborne fungi;however,based on estimated I/O ratios,the indoor ambient conditions of the buildings were good.The implication of findings of this study is that the presence of airborne fungal contaminants of indoor and outdoor workplace environment may pose serious occupational health consequences,hence low productivity.