1. j i'-
l, ".
J. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Monit. il(t) l7- 24(ZOOI)
@ Palani Paramount Publications-printed in India
AEROMICROBIOLOGY OF' HOSPITALS IN
MUNICIPALITY
ISSN: 0971-0965-l l-01 - I 7
KANCHIPURAM
B ANNADURAI@O M SHANMUGAM * VELMURUGAN S
AND
V FREDERICK $
oonpenn mxr oF BorANy AND BIocI{EMISTRy, c.A.rI. coLLEGE
MELVISIIARAM 63 I 509, INDIA
soEpARTrmxrm
oF AppLIED MICRoBIoLocy
KANCHI SRI KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE
*oEpARmmIrI oF APPLIED ZooLoGY, KI]VEMPU LINTVERSITY, B.R. PROJECT,
SHIMOGA DISTRICT, KARNATAKA, INDIA.
ABSTRACT
An attempt is made.from August 1999 to February 2000 to study the indoor air microflora of
Govemment hospitals and piivate hospitals of Kanchipuram town and the samples collected were grown and
analysed. Nearly 50 species were prevalent in this area. The percent contribution ofindividual sf,ore types
revealed that the predominant species were I spergillas, Alternaria, Curtularia, Periconia and Drescleria.
A large proportion of this species belong lo Aspergillus, and Penicillium, and these are regarded as a common
culturable molds present in the atmosphere of Kanchipuram environments.
Key words: Aerobiology, I spergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, Cur-wlaria, Periconia. Drescleria.
INTRODUCTION
Bioaerosol particles are almost always present in outdoor air although their
oomposition and concentration changes with time of day, seasons, climate and geographical
location. Most Bioacerosol particles are pollen grains and fungal spores but some may be
bacti:ria, algae, viruses and plant spores. Inhaled spores can cause a number of respiratory
disorders in humans, such as, allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma and allergic alvolitis. Lr addition,
some fungal species are primary pathogens, invading through the respiratory tract and others
can act as secondarypathogens.
Allergic diseases, especially of the respiratory tract are common in India. About
5% ofthe Indianpopulation suffer from nasobronchial allergy and aeroallergens. Thus precise
knowledge ofmole spore diskibution in the atmosphere is essential for accurate diagnosis
andproperkeatnentofpatients. hritially, airmicrofloraofanagriculturalfarmwas investigated
with a Burkard Sampler by Krishnamoorthy (1978) by exposing nutrient plates. These
were followed by a detailed survey of airbom molds in Madras city and neighbouring rural
areaby Krishnamoorthy (1983) with cylindertraps. Simultaneously, he also investigated

2. BANNADTJRAI ET.4L
circadieur and seasonalperiodically of air spora. These str-rdies rverc exteuded to Mushrootr-t
house and lzrboratories (Venugopal 1991), Por.rltry houses (Mani 1992). and libritries
(Nadilnutl-u"i 1993).
-fhesewercinvestigatedbyusingvolumetricsanrplerssuchzrsAndersen
sanrpler and Burkard personal sampler.
Tl-re population ofbiologicalparlicles suspended in airhas been nanrecl as 'air spora"
by Grcgorv ( 1952). Michae 1 first recorded the release into tl're air of a range of firngerl
sporL-s but there u,ere t-erv detailed studies until the nineteenth ccntLlry (Ainsu,'orth I
(,)76
)
Pastcur ( l8(r l ) rvas perhaps the first to sample pafiicles suspeuded in air inclr"rcling firngal
spores, yeast and bacteria. One ofthe most irnportant ofthe early studies w'as can ied out
i;y Cunningham ( 1 873 ) rvho undertook experiments to detetmine r,vhether a corre latiotr
cotrlcl be cstablished betw een the daily spore content of the atnrospl"rcre and tlre rncicleuce of
cholera and other levers rn tl, e jails of ti-re Calcutta. Blzrcksley ( 1873) clescribed svntptoms
caused b1, inhaling 'odours' frour Chaetotnium and spores from 'Pcrric illiutn gluttt'trrtt'.
The second irnpofiant contribution to aerobiology ir-r lndia was r-ade by Mehta ( 1952) u{ro
studied the disser-nination of uredospores of cereal rusts using aeroscope ar-rd kites.
Royes ( 1987) investigated some contponents ofthe air spora in Jantaica and their
pcssible rnedical applications. Aercmycology ofJabalpur was str-rclied by Vemra ard Kl.rare
1 I 988)" Aerobiologrcal investigation were undeftaken by Sliul<la anci Srivastava ( 1989)
inside the sugar factories of Gonda district Cadman (1991) str-rdrcd the air spora of
.lohannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa the possibility for forecasting the occunence ol
scasonal allergens was investrgated usir-rg r-r-rLrltiple stepwise regressiot't ar-ralysis. Airspora
were collected with Burkarcl traps dr-rring 1987 and 1988. Datta et al(1991)conducted
aerobiological studies at Gwal ior.
Seasonal vadation ofoutdoorviable n-ricroflrngi in Copenhagcn. Dentnark'"vas studied
by Larsen andGravesen (1991). Par-rdaand Behera(1991) studiedthe seasonalincider.rce
and succession offungal spores in air after rainfall. Cornparative study about air-born spores
in Cagliari and Perugia w'as stuciied by Mar-rro er ul (1992). Shaheer.r (1992) str-rdied tlie
aeronlycology of A-nrnan area. Jordan. SLu-vey of airbom allergenic fungai sporcs at Aligarh
was conducted by Yasmeen and Saxena (1992) fi-om Jan-Dec.1990. Femandez-Ger.rdalaz
et al (1993) studied the airborne pollen eurd spores of Leori (Spain). Survey of airborne
culturable and non-culturable fungi at different sites in Delhi metropolrs was conducted b-v
Gupta et al (1993).
Helntroos ( 1993) studied the relationship between airborne fr-urgal spore presence
andrveatlrervariabieinStockl'rolm(Swedcn). Joeletol(1993)studiedtheseasonalvzriation
Journal of Ecotoxicology Environmental MontS tng

3. AEROMICROBIOLOGY OF HOSPITALS
ip the air bom ftlngal spore population of East of France. Oliveria er rrl ( 1 993) lnvestigated
the ailborne fungi isolated from Natal, state of Rio Grande Do Nor1e. Brazil, dttring a otre
year period. Dames et ul (1994) studied tl-re air spora of Durban: A subtropical. coastal
South African city.
Halvagy ( 1 994) studied the fungal air spore of KLrwait City. Continltous san-rpling
ofairsporeinKuwaitCitywascarriedoutdailyoveraperiodof I2years,41 sporetypes
r.vere identified. Li et al (1944)investigated the functional relationship betrveen ait'bome
fungal spores and environn-rental factors in Kitcl-rener-Waterloo, Ontario as detected b1'
canonical correspondence analysis. Air sampling ofNirrradganj area at Jabafuurwas done
fio1r 1611-r Septerlber 1988 to 30th December i 988 using Rotorod air sampler atld exposirrg '
petri plates for 15 days. Tirvari et ttl (7995) observed the airmicroflora of greetl house itr
Botanical Garden of Govemment Science College, Raipur. Air sarnpling using Rotorod air
samplers r,vas condncted by Tze-Ming M o et ctl (1995) in the Institute of Medical Research-
Kula|-u1pur, Malaysia, Li De-Wei ( 1996) fbund out the functional and causal relatiorlships
berrveen incloor and outdoor airborne fr-urgi at Canada. Richardsor-r (1996) noted thc
occLrr-repcc of airborne L)idt'nrcllu spores in Edinburgh. Concentratiort of Didyrnella
rrscospores. a caLrse of iate sulruler asthma, reached peaks of 4400 tnr in urbatl Edinbr-rrgh.
The present i nvesti gati otr repofi s air rnicrofl ora of Kanchipllram hospital s.
N{A'f ERIALS AND IVIETHOD
Arr sarnpling of Kanchipurarr-r hospitals was con-imenced on August 1999 and continucd till Fcbruarr
200t) b,r, exposrng pctriplates with thc trvo different mcdia rvisc Zok nalt extract agar and Dcrtr-rascl irgar to sct
volunrctric intbrrlation on'thc culturable nrolds prcsent in the atmosphcre.
Cleaning of glasswares prepalation of glassware for sterilisation. stcrilisation, potilto clcxtrosc agat'
trl,ptophap 6roth. Tyrosine-cacsin nitrate agar, Watct'agar. Mycelial dry rveight dctcrntination and ilrcr,rbation, sttt-r
culrrrling ald Statistical analysis werc done according to Annadurai et al (19()(t,1 998, 1 999, 2000)
Spore trapping techniques: Potato Dcxtrose Agar nredia was used lor indoor air salnpling tlrroughout this
investigation. Stcrilizecl PDA pelri platcs u,cre l<ept at different places in the hospital indoor cnr.'irotrs trnd thc
culturc u,as analyzcd.
Sampler shcdule: Arr sampling u,as carried mostly between 10.30 - I1.30 atrr Air rvas sarlrpled in opcratiorr
thcatrcs. Injection roont and Doctors room on the sanre day at an interval of I 5 rlrts. The duration ol sanrpling at
each site $,as 5 rrinLltes. Altogcther l2 sanrples u,ere taken at cach site, approximately at t!o-'eeh intcrvals during
August to Fcbruary 2000.
Conyersion of counts to m3 of air: Thc colony counts were convertcd to cubic lreter of arr by nlLrltiplyrn-e u'rth
an approprratc ntultiplication factor and exprcsscd as colony forming units/cttbic nrctcr of air (CFU/nrr). Thc
rnultrplication factor is calculated as follorvs:
Amotlnt of ait' sarnpled - 28 nrl / minute.
Duration of each sampling : 5 nrinutes
Amottnt of air sanrpled in 5 nrinutes:28 r 5 : 140 ml
Journal of Ecotoxicology Environmental Monitoiing
i
l9

4. )
n BANNADURAI ETAL
):_ :lllylll_-:1:_llo'",ouar
species
----- x 100
Total no. of CFU/mr of all species
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 shows various hospitals in Kanchipuram Municipality. There ar-e nearly 1 1
hospitals. out ofwhich one Government Head Quarters Hospital started in 1g63. other
1 0 hospitals are privately managed hospitals.
Journal of Ecotoxicology & Environmental Monitoring
Let numbcr ofcolonies recorded: x
Thc total numbcr of colonies / nrr or air: (1000* x )i 140
Preparation of data: while describing the results two terms viz. periodicity of occurrence. and percentagc occurrence
havebeenusedthroughoutthetext. Theperiodicityofoccurrencereferstonumberofsamplingsinrvhichamicrobe
appeared hs against I 2 total sarnplings ai each site. the percentage occurrence is calculated as fol.lows:
M.S. Hospital t970
Manoharan Hospitai lgg l
Narne of
the Hospitai
C.S.l. Hospital
Lal<shnri Hospital
VengLrdi Hospital
Area of
Iocation
Vaikunda perunral Temple
Hospital Road,
BigKanchipuram
Railway Road
Near Tarril Nadu Hotel
Big Kanchipuranr.
Hospital Road
Near Bus stand
Big Kanchipr-rrarn
Nellukara Street
Near Kacheeswarn Temple
Big I(anchipuranr
Ycar
I 988
1999
l-902 Karnarajar Street
Gandhi Road.
Neal Pachaiyappas
Worlen's Coilegc
Kanch ipr_rrarn-2
Coverage Area
l. Dr. Ambedkar Nagar,
2. Ashok Nagar
3. Mahendra Pallavan Nagar
4. Min Nagar
5. M.G.R. Nagar
6. Tirul<ali Medu
l. Mamallan Nagar
2. Railway Road
3. Sakupet
4. Pookadai Sathiranr
5. Arnbedkar Nagar
l . Nellukara Strcet
2. Mettu Strect
3. East RajLr Street
l. Vani Street
2. Nellukara Street
3. Kaliarr-rnran l(oil Street
4. Mandeeshwaran Strect
5. Pandavaperuntal Koil Street
6. Ul<kapirandan Srreet
1 . Yadartha Amnran Koil karai Street
2. A.K.T. Nambi Strcet
3. Kotran-rbal Street
4. Bava Street
5. Vilakadi Koil Strcet

5. I
AEROMICROBIOLOGY OF HOSPITALS
D K K Hospital Nadu Theru
Big Kanchipuram
Vallal
Pachiayappan Street
Kanchipuram-2
East Rajaveedhi
Big Kanchipuram
1. Nadu theru
2. Gandhi road
3. Centre of Kanchipuram
1. Mettu Street
2. Karakaliyaman Street
3. Collector office
4. Pillaiyar palayam
1. Vaikunda Perumal Koil Street
2. Sappanipillaiyar Koil Street
3. Kamatchiamman Koil Street
4. Shankara Madam
5. Egambaranadhar Koil Street
L Vani Street
2. Nellukara Street
3. Putheri theru
l. Vani Street
2. Nellukara Street
3. Kamatchiamman Koil Street
4. Putheri Street
I . Vaikunda Perumal Koil Street
2. Railway Road
3. Ambedkar Nagar
4. Min Nagar
5. Mamallan Nagar
6. East Raja Street
Kumaran Hospital 1993
M.S-D. Hospital 1998
Shanker Eye Hospital 1982 Nellukara Street
Big Kanchipuram
Nellukara Street
Big Kanchipuram
Regavan Hospital 1970
Govt. Head
Quarters Hospital
I 863 Near Bus stand
Hospital Road,
Big Kanchipuram
Data onnature andconcentrations ofr,iablemolds inthe indoor environment ofhospitals in
India is meagre. The indoor environment of govemment hospitals and private hospitals is
heavily contaminated with airtome dust. Since pilgrims of various parts of the world frequently
visitKanchipuram from timeimmemorial, various diseases hasbeenreported inthis place.
The oldest hospital in the state here was started in 1 863. Microbial diversity reveals various
diseases that are common in this area. The data obtained from rainfall humidity and
temperature, are favourable for the growth ofmicroorgarrisms.
Since there is no sufficient drainage facilities the environmental temperature favours'
the growth of Yibrio cholera, Salmonqlla typhi, Salmonella paratyphi A and B are
infected to the people living near sewage As it is reported in Geneva, Pa ratyphi C is not
2l
Journal of Ecotoxicology & Environmental Monitoring

6. Table 2 Percentage contribution of air microflora of hospitals in Kanchipuram municipalty
Microbes/species Percentage
(%)
Microbes/species Percentage
(%)
D BANNADURAT ETAL
Mucor
Rhizopus
Alternaria
Aspergillus
A. flavus
A.niger
A japctnicus
A.candidus
A.fumigatus
. A.glaucus
A.nidulans
A versicolor
A.or1t2ss
Aflaviceps
A. ornatus
A. terraeus
A. carneus
Candida albicans
Penicill.iunt
P.citrinu.nt
P.chrysogenum
Fusariun.
Cladosporittm
Curtularia
Ilelminthosporiunt
Pu.ccinia
Geotrichum
12.5
2.s
3.5
3.25
3.85
2.65
2.t5
1.15
1.65
1.25
I .85
1.25
1.75
1. l5
1.25
t.25
1.15
2.2
1.75
1.65
r.85
2.75
|.75
2.2
0.25
0.35
0. r5
Rhodotorula 0.45
Aureobasidium 0.32
Neurospora 0.65
Dreschslera 0.65
Ganoderma 1.2
Leptosphaeria 0.35
Coprinus 0.25
Polythrincium 0,65
Nigrospora 1.75
Curvularia 2.75
Didynella spores 0. l5
Periconia 0.35
Botrltdiplodia L30
Catarrhusaestivus 1.75
Chaetomium 1.65
Haplospora 0.'/5
Trichothecium 0.85
Pseudomonas spp. 2.35
Proteus spp 2.75
Staplrylococcus spp. 2.94
Streptococcusspp. 1.60
Acetobacter 2.20
Klebsiella pnemoniae 2.15
Micrococcus 1.85
Bacilhts 1.75
Actinontycetes 1.80
Lactobacillus 0.75
found here which is epidemic to Geneva . But Salmonella paratyphi B rs often infecting the
people. ThepigsinthesludgeandareasofKanchipuramtransferNesseriamefffnjitisand
Viral meningitis. In the low lying sewage area, Pseltdomonas sp. Proteus sp. and Bacillus
sp is reported. Skin disorders and various skin diseases. Frorn this, it is concluded that the
dermatophytes and opportunistic mycoses is prevalent in this area'
A single genu s, Aspergillus is common and abundant in hospital environs. Pencillium
ard,Alternaria sp.which occur more frequently next to l,1p ergillus occupy second position
in the order of dominance. This results are in agreement with the results of Tiwan et al
(1985) and Royes et al (1987).
Journal of Ecotoxicology & Environmental Monitoring

7. AEROMICROBIOLOGY OF HOSPITALS
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