Assessing fungal spore health impacts with real-time detection technologies

Bioaerosols are ubiquitous airborne microorganisms comprised of bacteria, fungi, pollen, virus and their constituents. Fungi have been associated with negative health effects ranging in severity from allergic reactions to asthma and serious infection, where susceptible individuals are at greater risk of life-threatening health outcomes resulting from exposure. While airborne fungi are abundant, they are poorly characterized due to the low temporal resolution of traditional offline sampling methods, limiting our understanding of key emission drivers in critical micro-environments and their impacts on air quality.

There is a critical need to better characterize background fungal aerosol concentrations to build baselines to explore exposure assessment. Here we investigate the utility of emerging real-time detection methods in conjunction with offline sampling during a two-week pilot study to characterize the outdoor concentrations of key aeroallergenic fungi at high time resolution.

A Multiparameter Bioaerosol Spectrometer (MBS) was deployed at UKHSA Chilton alongside a Burkard sampler during August 2022; The MBS is a biofluorescence spectrometer that classifies and quantifies bioaerosols on a single particle basis via their autofluorescent signatures, allowing for fungal aerosol concentrations to be derived at 5-minute time resolution; Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was performed on daily integrated Burkard samples to provide broader fungal compositional context. Meteorological data was also recorded.

Clear diurnal behaviour in Cladosporium- and Penicillium-like aerosol was observed with the MBS, with maximums occurring in the late afternoon and early morning respectively. These characteristic emission features would not be evident from sample integrations typical of offline sampling. Comparison to the NGS bioinformatics is ongoing.

We demonstrate for the first time the utility of a complimentary real-time and offline NGS dual approach to gain deeper insights into fungal spore emissions. We suggest that this approach shows promise for routine fungi monitoring to assess impacts on public health.