Issue 5, 2005
From the journal:

Journal of Environmental Monitoring

Large particles are responsible for elevated bacterial marker levels in school air upon occupation

Alvin Fox,a   William Harley,a   Charles Feigley,*b   Deborah Salzberg,b   Charlotte Toole,b   Aleksandra Sebastianc  and  Lennart Larssonc  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Pathology & Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

b Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA
E-mail: cfeigle@gwm.sc.edu
Fax: 803-777-3391
Tel: 803-777-6360

c Department of Medical Microbiology, Dermatology and Infection, University of Lund, Solvegatan 23, Lund, Sweden

Abstract

Muramic acid (Mur) is found in bacterial peptidoglycan (PG) whereas 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH FAs) are found in Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Thus Mur and 3-OH FAs serve as markers to assess bacterial levels in indoor air. An initial survey, in a school, demonstrated that the levels of dust, PG and LPS (pmol m−3) were each much higher in occupied rooms than in the same rooms when unoccupied. In each instance, the Mur content of dust was increased and the hydroxy fatty acid distribution changed similarly suggesting an alteration in the bacterial population. Here, findings are compared with results from two additional schools. Follow-up aerosol monitoring by particle size was also performed for the first time for all 3 schools. The particle size distribution was shown to be quite different in occupied versus unoccupied schoolrooms. Within individual classrooms, concentrations of airborne particles ≥0.8 µm in diameter, and CO2 were correlated. This suggests that the increased levels of larger particles are responsible for elevation of bacterial markers during occupation. Release of culturable and non-culturable bacteria or bacterial aggregates from children (e.g. from flaking skin) might explain this phenomenon.

Graphical abstract: Large particles are responsible for elevated bacterial marker levels in school air upon occupation

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B418038K
Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Dec 2004
Accepted
10 Mar 2005
First published
29 Mar 2005

J. Environ. Monit., 2005,7, 450-456

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Large particles are responsible for elevated bacterial marker levels in school air upon occupation

A. Fox, W. Harley, C. Feigley, D. Salzberg, C. Toole, A. Sebastian and L. Larsson, J. Environ. Monit., 2005, 7, 450 DOI: 10.1039/B418038K

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