In this article we will discuss about some examples of indoor aerospore.
1. Aeromicrospora of Pharmacy:
Ayurvedic drugs are prepared in pharmacy. Sharma and Navneet (1996) reported aerofungi from the fermentation unit of Gurukul Kangri Pharmacy, Hardwar. They isolated fungi during February-March, 1994.
The environmental factors viz., relative humidity and temperature affected their occurrence. In the diurnal cycle, fungi showed an evening tendency. The dominant species were Cladosporium cladosporioides, Alternaria sp., Penicillium cyclopium, Epicoccum nigrum, etc.
2. Aeromicroflora of Hospitals:
Hospital is an important indoor environment responsible for spread of airborne pathogens. It acts as reservoirs of pathogens which later on is transmitted to the other individuals viz., patients, hospital workers, visitor, etc. In turn it is carried over patients.
Even coughing and sneezing cause the spread of microorganisms and important viruses. The hospital transmitted pathogens are Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Staphylococcus aureus, influenza virus, Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, Candida albicans, etc.
The species of Aspergillus is not a normal flora of human but it frequently causes lung infection in hospital environment. The dominant form of hospital infections is the candidiasis caused by C. albicans. C. albicans contaminates the hospital wards generally through direct contact with fingers.
Squames from the skin of persons in the operation theatre transmit pathogenic microorganisms. Squames contain many pathogenic bacteria which are transmitted to patients. Therefore, attempts must be made to check the spread of pathogens in the hospitals so that primary and secondary infections could be avoided.
3. Other Houses:
The indoor air never lacks spores. Even in clean rooms about 25 spores/m3 have been found. In the houses where air conditioners and coolers (humidifiers) are used. There is such chance of air-borne microorganisms because humidity and low temperature (about 25°C) create congenial environment for propagation and spread of microorganisms.
Cold mist humidifiers are generally colonised by fungi (e.g. Aspergillus, Geotrichium, Penicillium, Phialophora, etc.), yeasts, bacteria, etc. Moreover, insects act as carrier of human pathogens and lay eggs in stagnant water.
4. Aeromicroflora of Storage Materials:
Several valuable materials are stored in houses, and personnel are appointed to look after them. However, these are deteriorated by aeromicroflora.
Some examples are discussed below:
(i) Library:
A library consists of thousands to millions of valuable, common and rare, printed and hand written books. The major constituent of paper is the cellulose. Therefore, cellulose- degrading microorganisms colonise and degrade the papers.
The common cellulose degrading fungi are the species of Alternaria, Aspergillus, Curvularia, Bispora, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Helminthosporium, Periconia, Nigrospora, Rhizopus, Stemphilum, Trichoderma, etc. High moisture and low temperature increase the rate of cellulose decomposition by these fungi. In addition, decomposition of rexin and leather has been found very less in spite of production of high amount of enzymes.
(ii) Wall Paintings:
Wall paintings are the cultural heritage in a region of a country. The world fame wall paintings at Ajanta and Ellora caves have shown the sign of biodeterioration. For the first time Tilak and Kulkarni (1972) studied the aerospora of caves.
Tilak (1972) isolated the fungal spores on the paintings and in caves of Ajanta and Ellora. Probably aerofungi have deteriorated the wall paintings. Growth of aerofungi is supported by the excreta of bats which probably serves as substrate. In addition, the meteorological factors are also responsible for growth and bio deterioration of wall paintings.