Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STUDY OF AIRBORNE BACTERIAL DENSITY AFFECTING RESPIRATORY SYSTEM HEALTH IN BUSES INDOOR AIR OF KERMANSHAH CITY, IRAN

Mohammad Soltanian, Narges Ozeiri, Zahra Tavakoli, Farid Najafi, Parviz Mohajeri and Touraj Esmaeilzadeh

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the bacterial pollution of the air inside public buses in Kermanshah city and to study its relationship with environmental parameters. This study was conducted by designing a descriptive study on 108 subjects collected from working buses in directions consist of route NO 1, 2 and 3 in Kermanshah. Total bacterial density of air in buses was variable ranges from 500 to 3506 CFU/m3. The greatest concentration of bacterial contamination was related to line NO. 3 buses with the average of 1282 CFU/m3. Among the bacterial species, Staphylococcus was the predominant species in Shomareh1 buses with the average of 432 ±120 CFU/m3. Staphylococcus aureus with the average of 9±16 CFU/m3 in Shomareh1 buses and Streptococcus pyogenes with the average of 4±10 CFU/m3 had had the highest and lowest density, respectively. The results of statistical analysis showed that there has been a significant correlation between bacterial density and the people density, temperature and air conditioning in buses and their age (P<0.05); therefore, practical improvement should be taken into consideration in order to prevent of chaos and crowded population and decreasing traffic volume.