Development of Long-term Sampling Equipment for Viable Bioaerosols

• Main Authors: Tsai-Chuan Hsieh, 謝在鈞
• Other Authors: Huey-Jen Su
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/29029848586707121050

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 環境醫學研究所 === 96 === Conventional samplers are often criticized for limited application in conducting long-term monitoring of viable bioaerosols. In this study, a newly equipment, using the porous foam coated with liquid medium as a collection subtract to maintain the viability of collected microbial particles, was developed. Our particle generation system within a constructed exposure chamber was considered stable with a coefficient of variation (CV) for number concentrations being only 6-11 % over 8 hr nebulization process, compared to previous research (CV =15 % over 2 hr). The overall physical collection efficiency of this instrument for Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli decreased while sampling time prolong to 8 hr (average 70-45 % for both species), yet, the result was better than that of the past study (best at 40%). The modified biological recovery rate (mBR), decreased while test sampling time prolong to 8 hr, respectively. Yet, we found that the mBR for stress-sensitive species, E. coli (3.9 %), was similar with other studies while the sampling interval set within 2 hr (4 %) and the mBR for robust species, B. subtilis (60-53 %), was better than that of other study (32 %). Furthermore, the other sampling performance factor, colony survival rate (CS), ranged from 67 % to 15 % for B. subtilis; 53 % to 0.1 % for E. coli, respectively. The CS obtained in this study (67-48 % for B. subtilis; 53-34 % for E. coli) showed a far better rate as compared with other studies (15%) while sampling for 1-4 hr. Besides, the results from the side-by-side sampling instrument performance comparison test represented that this foam-based sampler showed a better relative survival rate than the reference sampler - BioSampler over 2 h and 4 h sampling period. In the future work, some aspect of this sampler need to be further tested, eventually, after this equipment is well development, the data about long-term exposure to viable bioaeorsols and the further relationship between human health could be conducted.