Air microflora inside Khufu Pyramid in the absence and presence of 1500 visitors

ABSTRACT

An investigation concerning the microflora of the air inside Khufu Pyramid on 11th of Sept., 1990 before [at 8.0 AM] and during [at 12, 30 PM] the visit of 1500 visitors was carried out. Means of total viable bacterial [TVB] counts in the morning [before visit] were 14 [in Queen room; Q], 16 [in Corridor; C] and 12 [in King room, K] corresponding to 25, 106 and 104 colonies per plate with an increase of 1.8, 6.6 and 8.7 folds respectively [during visit]. At the meantime; TVB outside pyramid recorded > 300 colonies per one plate. Fungal colonies in the morning were 2 [Q], 5 [C] and 3 [K] corresponding to 6, 15 and 7 with an increase of 3, 3 and 2.3 folds respectively during visit. Actinomycetes were 1 [Q], 1 [C] and 5 [K] before visit corresponding to 2, 22 and 15 with an increase of 2, 22 and 3 folds respectively during visit. In order to minimize the microbial contamination inside ancient antiquities places, it is recommended to control both the number of visitors per each visit and lengthen the interval in between each two subsequent visits for the same ancient object