Fungi in the air of selected social welfare homes in the Małopolskie and Podlaskie provinces–a comparative study

A comparative study of the occurrence of culturable airborne fungi was carried out during the four seasons of the year in four social welfare homes (SWHs), one in each of the cities of Cracow (Małopolskie province) and Białystok (Podlaskie province) and the villages of Karniowice and Czerewki situated approximately 20 km from the two cities respectively. Air of randomly chosen rooms and bathrooms, corridors, ward kitchens, soiled-linen closets, dining rooms, day rooms and nurses’ stations was sampled using single-stage impactor samplers and isolated moulds and yeasts were identified by macroscopic, microscopic and biochemical characteristics. Generally the greatest numbers of fungi were observed in the autumn. Penicillium and Cladosporium were isolated from the air in all four SWHs during all seasons of the year, but a wider range of other taxa were isolated from those in Małopolskie province.