REDUCING AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION IN CHINA: ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES AND MANAGEMENT The effect of temperature on airborne filamentous fungi in the indoor and outdoor space of a hospital Fariba Abbasi 1 & Mohammad Reza Samaei 2 Received: 26 April 2017 /Accepted: 4 December 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Fungi are one of the bioaerosols in indoor air of hospitals. They have adverse effects on staff and patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of three incubation temperature on the density and composition of airborne fungi in an indoor and outdoor space of hospital. Sabouraud dextrose agar was used for culture the fungi. For improvement of aseptic properties, chloramphenicol was added to this medium. The density of airborne fungi was less than 282 CFU/m 3 . The highest density was detected in emergency room and the lowest of them was in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and operation room (OR). Results showed that fungi levels at 25 °C were higher than 37 and 15 °C (p = 0.006). In addition, ten different genera of fungi were identified in all departments. The predominant fungi were Fusarium spp., Penicillium spp., Paecilomyces spp., and Aspergillus niger. Moreover, the density and trend of distribution of Fusaruim spp. in the indoor space was directivity to outdoor space by ventilation system. The present study has provided that incubation temperature had effect on airborne fungi remarkably. We are suggested that more studies would be conducted on incubation temperature and other ambient factors on airborne fungi. Keywords Fungi . Temperature . Incubation . Hospital . Shiraz Introduction Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a critical factor in indoor space (Azimi et al. 2013) because the improper IAQ may lead to infections, hospital syndrome, and various occupational risks (Wan et al. 2011). Density of bioaerosols including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and pollens is known as an important factor that influence on IAQ (Naddafi et al. 2011). Their high density is infectious, allergenic, and toxic (Mandal and Brandl 2011). Among different types of bioaerosols, fungi plays an impor- tant role in human health (Hoseini et al. 2013), especially in hospital environments where patients are vulnerable to these infections (Weaver et al. 2010). Therefore, the monitoring of them is essential. Various factors such as the relative humidity, temperature, intensity of UV and visible radiation, and wind speed influence on the airborne fungi. Those moisture, nutri- ents, and temperature are the most important factors (Haleem Khan and Mohan Karuppayil 2012). Since the temperature in buildings is usually 20–25 °C, the growth of mesophilic fungi will be promoted. Moreover, the conidia germinate at temper- atures between 12 and 37 °C (Piontek et al. 2016). Those Aspergillus, Cladosporium, and Penicillium were the most common isolated at 27 °C for 3 to 7 days (Hedayati et al. 2011). However, the temperature less than optimum level caves a decrease in growth of fungi (Haleem Khan and Mohan Karuppayil 2012). Moreover, in summer, the relative humidity (70–80%) and temperature (12–15 °C) promote bioaerosol survival and higher emissions (Szy ł ak- Szydłowski et al. 2016). Various studies have investigated the fungal air quality in hospital environments and other occupational works. In these studies, the average density of airborne fungi was 19 ± 19 CFU/m 3 (Perdelli et al. 2006), 5.5–10.6 CFU/m 3 (Panagopoulou et al. 2002), and 0–319 CFU/m 3 (Li and Hou 2003). But in other space such as composting plant, Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Mohammad Reza Samaei mrsamaei@sums.ac.ir 1 Department of environmental health engineering, School of health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 2 Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0939-5