Aero-microflora of pre-primary and primary classrooms in ikwuano local government area, umudike, abia state.:- Ogbuehi, Vivian U

ABSTRACT

The microbial air quality of the pre nursery, nursery and primary school classrooms of two different schools (MOU AU Staff School and National Root Crop Research Institute Scool) was investigated between 11 :30am - 12:00pm employing plate exposure and count method for bacteria and fungi estimation, results obtained from the study showed the bacteria counts from the school. Seven bacterial species; Bacillus spp., Enterococcus spp., Escherichia coli, Micrococcus spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Staphylococcus aureus and six fungal species; Alternaria spp., Aspergillus niger, Candida spp., Mucor spp., Penicil/ium spp., and Rhizopus spp were isolated. The bioaerosol concentrations were higher than the recommended limit regardless of the sampling sessions. The high microbial counts and identified bacterial and fungal species may pose a serious problem to learning, though the occurrence of the different bacteria and fungi species varies between the schools. A decline was recorded in the occurrence of some microbes and this was attributed to high level of personal and environmental hygiene in the schools, and so the maintenance of such high level of hygiene in schools is therefore recommended.