Environment Mcmational, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 167-172,1997 Copyright 01997 Elscvicr Science Ltd printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0160-4120/97 S17.00+.00 PI1 SOlao-4120(97)00003-2 HOSPITAL AIRBORNE MICROBIAL POLLUTION IN A DESERT COUNTRY A.A. Jaffal Departments of Microbiology, Al Ain Hospital, United Arab Emirate University, UAE H. Nsanze*, A. Bener, and A.S. Ameen Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirate University, UAE I.M. Banat and A.A. El Mogheth Faculty of Sciences, United Arab Emirate University, UAE EI 9509-249 M (Received 13 September 1995; accepted 9 December 1996) The level of airborne microbes in hospitals is unknownin the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An investigation of the quantity and qualityof airborne microbes in Al-Ain hospital, UAE, was carried out to establish standards for future reference. Using a bacteria mechanical air sampler, microbiologicalsamples were collected from different hospitalunits. The bacterial and fungal isolates wereenumerated and identified.The variables werecoded, entered, andprocessed by the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) with ~~0.05 considered the cutoff point.Tengroups of microorganisms isolated wereeither human or environmental bacteria and fungi. Environmental agents predominated andwerenot identified. Some unitswere significantlybacteriologically more contaminated than othersbut fungi were close in most wards.Therewere small numbers and quantities of potential pathogens. There werefive genera of fungi isolated with a predominance of Aspergillus species but these were low. The intensive care unit (ICU) and operating theatre (OT) had low countsand significantly more human related than environmental microorganisms. The quantity andquality of the microbial population seem to be reasonable in this observation andwill serve as references for future studies. cowrrgh~ 81997 .%~ier Science Lfd INTRODUCTION Atmospheric pollution is one of the most pressing problems of our age. This pollution has now reached a level that poses a potential threat to the health and well-being of the population (Gammage and Kaye 1985; Langmuir 1980; Raza et al. 1989). Indoor biological pollution has only recently begun to receive the attention afforded outdoor or even indoor chemical pollution (Yunginger et al. 1976). The apparentlack of interest is tied to the difficulties of sampling biological aerosols and evaluating of their variable health effects. *Correspondence to: Dr. Herbert Nsanze, Microbiology Dept., Fat.of Medicine and Health Sciences, P.O. Box 17666, Al Ain, UEA. The indoor environment can potentially place human occupants at greater risk than the outside environment, because enclosed spaces can confine aerosols and allow them to build up to infectious doses (Samet and Spengler 1991). Ventilation systems can pick up contaminated air and distribute infectious microorganisms to other parts of the building (Huddleson and Munger 1940). Ventilation system components can becomecontaminated with pathogenic microorganisms such as Legionella pneumophila which are subsequentlytransmitted to the building’s occupants(Glick 1978). The extent of health problems caused by micro- organisms in the indoor environment is difficult to 167