Fungi detection

The air generally contains a wide variety of fungi, originating from sources such as water sources, animals, humans, dust, decaying organic material, and other substrates supporting the growth of microorganisms. Among them, several species of mold can produce mycotoxins that can pose a threat to human health, e.g. Stachybotrys chartarum, or Aspergillus fumigatus. Inhaling pathogenic mold spores can cause several allergic problems (asthma, rhinitis…) and systemic symptoms. Fungi pathogens belonging to the Candida and Aspergillus species are also responsible for a significant share of nosocomial infections in hospitals. For example, Aspergillosis is the second cause of fungi infection-related deaths in hospitals. For this reason, it is important to analyze the air of hospitals, offices, and housing buildings to monitor for the presence of toxic mold spores and ensure that exposure levels are sufficiently low. Additionally, fungi play a major role in a wide range of bioprocesses. However, little is known about the fungal diversity of aerosols emitted in most bioprocessing industrial settings.

Most traditional air sampling techniques only allow for the detection of culturable fungi. This is problematic, both to detect non-culturable pathogenic molds, but also to understand the full range of the fungal diversity in aerosols. For many fungi, culturing can be a lengthy process that can last for several weeks before yielding results. Bertin Technologies has designed the Coriolis, a range of air samplers based on cyclonic technology that allows for the assessment of the fungi burden in air samples. Compatible with both PCR and next-generation sequencing techniques, the Coriolis have been used to study the fungal biomass in bioaerosols for over a decade. Below, our top experts have selected some of our best application notes related to fungi studies with the Coriolis air samplers.