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Title: Indoor Air Microbes and Respiratory Symptoms of Children in Moisture Damaged and Reference Schools

Title: Indoor Air Microbes and Respiratory Symptoms of Children in Moisture Damaged and Reference Schools Background: Indoor air quality of school buildings may be a significant factor for children’s health as schools are a daily environment for children.

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Title: Indoor Air Microbes and Respiratory Symptoms of Children in Moisture Damaged and Reference Schools

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  1. Title:Indoor Air Microbes and Respiratory Symptoms of Children in Moisture Damaged and Reference Schools

  2. Background: • Indoor air quality of school buildings may be a significant factor for children’s health as schools are a daily environment for children. • Some reports from schools indicated health consequences associated with moisture problems.

  3. Background: • Moisture in buildings can lead to microbial growth in building and harmful enission into indoor air. • This phenomenon was also noticed in houses, the microbial concentrations in moisture damaged houses are slightly higher than in normal houses.

  4. The purpose of the study was: • To determine whether microbial indoor air quality and associated health status of children in schools with visible moisture and mold problem differed from those in nondamaged schools.

  5. Materials and methods: • The measurement of of the microbial indoor air quality and respiratory symptoms of children were done in 32 schools. 24 schools were with visible moisture damage, and 8 schools were with no problems. • School buildings of concrete/brick and wooden construction were included.

  6. Materials and methods: • The method included many steps, the first step was building inspection: • All buildings were inspected for visible signs of moisture by a trained civil engineer. Also the types of damages were recoreded along with severity of the damages. • The buildings were devided into two groups : the index group which were the buildings that had moisture damage. The reference group: which were the buildings that had no damage.

  7. Materials and methods: • The second step was : air sampling: • Airborne microbes were determined by using a six stage impactor. • They took samples from classrooms and corridors.

  8. Materials and methods: • Samples from fungi were taken on 2% malt extract agar, samples from bacteria were taken on tryptone glucose yeast agar. • Colonies were counted in colony forming units,they used light microscope to identify the colonies.

  9. Materials and methods: • The third step was health surveys: • Information on the respiratory symptoms and health of participating children was collected by questionnaire,32 questions were included • Parents were asked to fill in the questionnaire with the child, for children between 7 and 12 years.

  10. Materials and methods: • The fourth step was statistical analysis: • Nonparametric tests were used for data anlysis. • Association between symptoms and moisture damage in index and reference schools was analyzed using logistic regression models.

  11. Results: • In building inspection: • The main reason for the moisture damage was aging of construction materials resulting in leakage or other damages.

  12. Airborne fungi: • Concentrations of viable airborne fungi were 26 cfu/m3 in index schools and 18 cfu/m3 in reference schools. For the concrete/ brick buildings the concentrations were 19 for the index schools and 9 for the reference schools. • The most common fungal genera in all school buildings were penicillium, yeast, and cladosporium.

  13. Airborne bacteria: • The concentrations of viable airborne bacteria were 593 and 432 cfu/m3 for index schools and reference schools. • For concrete/brick they were 473 and 366 cfu/m3 for index schools and reference schools respectively. • For wooden schools they were 985 and 565 cfu/m3 for index schools and reference schools respectively

  14. Health findings: • The overall response rate for health surveys was 82%. • Children in index schools reported respiratory symptoms more often than children in reference schools. The symptoms were more between children from concrete/brick

  15. Discussion: • The differences between the 24 index schools and the 8 schools were not significant, but the differences were more significant if we consider the building type. • Moisture damage increased the concentrations of fungi in buildings of concrete/brick, so the indoor air is affected more by the building type.

  16. Discussion: • Also the crowding in school buildings probably plays a significant role affecting microbial levels and fungi found in indoor air. • The association between respiratory symptoms and moisture damge was seen more often in index schools especially in concrete/brick buildings.

  17. Summary: • Moisture damage increased the fungal concentrations significantly in concrete buildings but not in wooden school buildings. • Moisture damage was a risk factor for children’s respiratory symptoms in both school types.

  18. Summary: • The remarkable effect of a building frame on the microbial content of indoor air and on schoolchildren’s symptoms should be taken into account in future studies.

  19. Critique:

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