Urban Enhancement of PM₁₀ Bioaerosol Tracers Relative to Background Locations in the Midwestern United States.

ABSTRACT: Bioaerosols are well-known immune-active particles that exacerbate respiratory diseases. Human exposures to bioaerosols and their resultant health impacts depend on their ambient concentrations, seasonal and spatial variation, and co-pollutants, which are not yet widely characterized. In this study, chemical and biological tracers of bioaerosols were quantified in respirable particulate matter (PM₁₀) collected at three urban and three background sites in the Midwestern United States across four seasons in 2012. Endotoxins from gram negative bacteria (and a few gram positive bacteria), water-soluble proteins, and tracers for fungal spores (fungal glucans, arabitol and mannitol) were ubiquitous and showed significant seasonal variation and dependence on temperature. Fungal spores

SUBMITTER: Rathnayake CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5034947 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature