[Quantitative study of airborne fungi at three functional sections of Chengdu city]

Airborne fungi are considered as one of the important causes of allergies throughout the world. The climatic conditions of Chengdu are suitable for the breeding of molds. We conducted monthly a quantitative investigation of the airborne fungi at three functional sections of Chengdu city from January to December, 1987. The results indicated that the concentration of fungal spores in the air was high through the year. The range of the concentrations of the airborne fungi was 870.37-7592.59 spores/m3, with two peaks in April and October. The first six dominant airborne fungi were yeast, Cladosporium, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium and Non-sporulating. Of Aspergillus flavus strains detected by fluorescence of agar medium under ultraviolet light 33.49% were aflatoxin-producing. The data show that the climatic and environment factors can affect the spread of airborne fungal spores in the air. The results of previous studies and present surveys are compared and the offence of airborne fungi and the significance of this survey are also discussed in this paper.