MP Journal of Medical Research
Presented at 1st Congress of Medicine and Health CoMeDH (2024), Kuala Lumpur, 22–23 June 2024 · All posters from this congress
Infectious DiseasesOpen accessPoster communication · 2026-0032

Assessment of Health Symptoms of Indoor Fungal Exposure in Simulation Laboratories, Preclinical Building, Faculty of Medicine, University Kebangsaan Malaysia

Siti Zubaidah Abdul Karib1✉, Hamidah Yusoff2, Tzar Mohd Nizam Khaithir2, Mohd Shukri Mohd Aris3, Mohd Hafidzul Jasman1

  1. 1 Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  2. 2 Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  3. 3 Centre for Environmental Health and Safety Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Kampus Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Received 14 October 2026 · Accepted 14 October 2026 · Published 14 October 2026 · Corrected 9 November 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23367957

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Key messages

  1. To identify the dominant types of fungi present in the simulation laboratory and their corresponding growth rates.
  2. To identify the predominant health symptoms among participants resulting from the fungal exposure in the simulation laboratory.
  3. To investigate the association between health symptoms resulting with fungal exposure according to demographic factor, smoking status, environmental conditions and pre-existing health status.

Abstract

Introduction

Exposure to fungal agents is linked to a wide range of health symptoms when mycotoxins in the air are inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin. Research on indoor fungal exposures in teaching laboratories in Malaysia is limited.

Materials and methods

A cross-sectional and experimental study was conducted to explore health symptoms of indoor fungal exposure in simulation laboratories. A questionnaire adapted from ICOP IAQ 2010 was distributed to identified users through an online booking system. Experimental passive sampling collected fungi samples at 60 minutes using 54 Sabouraud Dextrose Agar plates with chloramphenicol at 18 rooms, incubated at 30°C for 28 days. Fungi were identified using cellophane tape preparation under a light microscope to determine dominant fungi and growth rates. Data analysis included descriptive analysis, formatted tables, and cross-tabulation.

Results

The average estimated colony count was 32 CFU/m2/h, indicating a good Index of Microbial Air Contamination. Among 187 respondents, 92% reported no health symptoms. The most common symptoms were stuffy nose (2.1%), skin rash/itchiness, headache, and cough (1.1% each). No significant association was found between health symptoms and fungal exposure according to demographic factors, smoking status, environmental conditions, and pre-existing health status.

Conclusion

The presence of fungi in the simulation laboratories was not significantly associated with any symptoms, probably due to low fungal burden.

Original poster

References

  1. Blackwell, M. (2011). The fungi: 1, 2, 3 ... 5.1 million species? American Journal of Botany, 98(3), 426–438. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1000298
  2. Hawksworth, D. L. (2004). Fungal diversity and its implications for genetic resource collections. In STUDIES IN MYCOLOGY (Vol. 50). www.indexfungorum.org/names
  3. Leitch, C. (2017, June 23). Fungal toxins easily become airborne, creating potential indoor health risk. EurekAlert! Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/757346
Keywords
Fungi · Fungal burden · Indoor fungal exposure · Airborne fungi · Health assessment on fungi exposure
Received
14 October 2026
Accepted
14 October 2026
Published
14 October 2026
Peer review
Single-anonymized review by the Editorial Board · How we review
Version history
  • 14 October 2026 — first published
  • 9 November 2026 — corrected: English version, abstract, article type, authors, award, congress details, figure caption, key messages, keywords, language, license, record, references, related publication, specialty, title, video
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23367957
License
© The Authors 2026. Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Journal
MP Journal of Medical Research · ISSN 3144-8402

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