Air & Water Borne Diseases
Open Access

Research Article

Prevalence of Aspergillus sp in Portuguese Infant and Elementary Schools

University College of Jean Piaget Health Science Campus Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

*Corresponding Author:

Joana Margarida Moutinho Barbosa
University College of Jean Piaget Health Science Campus Vila Nova de Gaia
Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget, Portugal
Tel: +351227-536 620
Fax: +351227-536 639
E-mail: jmbarbosa@gaia.ipiaget.org

Received Date: December 10, 2011; Accepted Date: April 04, 2012; Published Date: April 06, 2012

Citation: Barbosa J, Vieira R, Costa J, Moreira L, Fernandes A, et al. (2012) Prevalence of Aspergillus sp in Portuguese Infant and Elementary Schools. Air Water Borne Dis 1:103. doi:10.4172/2167-7719.1000103

Copyright: © 2012 Barbosa JMM. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: Long-term exposure to a contaminated indoor environment may result in different health complaints. The filamentous fungi indoor air quality assessment of infant and elementary Portuguese schools and Aspergillus sp. identification was performed.
Methods: Environmental exposure was performed in seven infant and elementary schools, situated in Vila Nova de Gaia, during January 2011, following filamenteous culture characterization and identification for Aspergillus sp. Results: Filamentous cultures were more prevalent than yeasts, being Ascomycetes, more widespread than Zygomycetes. Elementary classrooms were more environmental contaminated than infantry level classrooms.
Conclusion: A. terreus and A. fumigatus cultures isolation occurred from samples exposed in two elementary classrooms and were related with school habitability and hygienisation conditions.

Keywords