Airborne fungi in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Knowledge of anemophilous fungi in a given city or region is important for the ecological diagnosis and specific treatment of allergic manifestations induced by inhaled allergens. In order to diagnose the presence of anemophilous fungi, several qualitative and quantitative techniques are used depending on the study place. This study of fungal air spores was performed with a Rotorod Sampler®, an equipment which samples the air through a plastic rod attached to an electric engine that makes it spin fast enough to collect the particles in the air. The samples were collected once a week during 24 hours using the standard cycle of the manufacturers. A total of 52 samples were obtained from April 2000 through March 2001. The results revealed prevalence of ascosporos (50.49 percent), Cladosporium (17.86 percent), Aspergillus/Penicillium (15.03 percent), basidiosporos (3.84 percent), rusts (3.82 percent), and Helminthosporium (2.49 percent), and a lesser frequency of Botrytis (1.22 percent), Alternaria (1.19 percent), smuts (0.90 percent), Curvularia (0.87 percent), Nigrospora (0.61 percent), and Fusarium (0.08 percent). Also, 1.59 percent of the spores detected here could not be identified by the systematic key used. More fungal spores were observed during the summer than during the autumn