Seasonal Variation and Size Distribution in the Intramural Fungal Spore Concentration of Residential House in Bengaluru and their role in Respiratory Allergy

Indoor airborne fungal spores are known to have a significant role in the etiology of respiratory allergies. With the objective of identifying the indoor aeromycoflora and subsequently test the identified fungi on patients of respiratory allergy, investigations were carried out for a period of one year from March 2016 to February 2017 in the bed-room of suspected fungal allergy patient. We studied the seasonal variation and size distribution of fungal spore load in the bedroom of an old residential cum commercial area in north Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. During the period, weekly Petri plate exposures of Martin’s Rose-Bengal Streptomycin agar media revealed a total of 1120 fungal colony forming units (CFUs). The samplings illustrates highest number of CFUs species in winter. Aspergillus niger exhibited the highest prevalence followed by Penicillium chysogenum and Candida tropicalis. The study comprises the first molecular characterization of a rare, new strain of Candida tropicalis isolated from the bedrooms. This sequence has been submitted to the GeneBank and accession number received for the same.