Browsing by Subject "Natural ventilation"

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    Effect of the passive natural ventilation on the bioaerosol in a small room
    (Elsevier, 2021-10-13) Núñez, Andrés; García, Ana M.; Genética y Microbiología
    Natural passive ventilation (windows opening) is frequently used in many houses and old buildings to renovate the air, remove unpleasant odors and dust, and reduce the physicochemical pollutants indoor. However, little is known about the effect on biological particles such as pollen grains and fungal spores (both allergenic) or bacteria (potentially infectious and pathogenic). In the present research, the bioaerosols composition in a small room naturally ventilated was analyzed by high-throughput DNA sequencing. Pollen grains were the most abundant particles outdoors while microbial phyla Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Ascomycota were predominant indoors. The main divergences in bioaerosols between indoor and outdoor environments were caused by the different abundance of the biological particles rather than the different taxa composition. Keeping the window open for 2 h did not change significantly the microbial community present indoors, although there was a tendency to mix the components of both environments. The abundance of human-related and potentially harmful microorganisms was higher indoors and was not remarkably affected by natural ventilation. In our study, natural ventilation through window opening had a poor effect on removing these microorganisms from the atmosphere indoor, suggesting that additional mechanisms such as air filtering systems would be required in order to improve the air quality of these environments from a microbiological point of view.
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    The aerobiome in a hospital environment: characterization, seasonal tendencies and the effect of window opening ventilation
    (Elsevier, 2023-01-16) Núñez, Andrés; García, Ana M.; Genética y Microbiología
    The urban atmosphere carries biological particles (bioaerosols) that may cause several diseases and allergies. These bioaerosols infiltrate and mix with those present inside the buildings, including hospitals. However, little is known about the behavior of these particles around health facilities. Here, we described the bioaerosols composition of an urban hospital indoor and outdoor at two different periods (winter and summer) using DNA sequencing. We observed that the seasonality and composition of the bioaerosols outdoor was also displayed indoor, and, in some cases, the taxa showed different trends depending on the season. Pathogenic species of bacteria and fungi were found indoors at low levels but also outdoors, being mostly environmental species, which would reject the idea that hospitals may be acting as a source of emission via aerosols. Skin-related bacteria were the most prevalent group related to human microbiome, being more abundant indoors. Air temperature was the principal factor affecting the bioaerosols composition in the samples but, in general, meteorological parameters outdoors were poor descriptors of the bioaerosols indoors. Similarly, the concentrations of the main indoor air pollutants did not correlate with microbial abundances. Globally, natural ventilation through a window opening did not significantly alter the composition of the bioaerosols indoor.