Potassium Sorbate as a Biocide | Evaluation

Potassium Sorbate as a Biocide EvaluationEvaluation of Potassium Sorbate as a Biocide to Reduce Viability of meat short letterborne fungus kingdom in a Higher Educational expression of Computer StudiesChin Ming Er1,a *, N. M. Sunar 2,b, Abdul Mutalib Leman2,c, Othman Norzila1,d, Quin Emparan1,e, Umi Kalthsom1,f, Paran Gani1,g, Nurul Azreen Jamal1,h1Department of Water And environmental Engineering (DWEE), mental faculty of Civil And surroundmental Engineering (FKAAS), University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia2Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, cogency of Engineering Technology (FTK), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400, Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, MalaysiaKeywords indoor(a) Air Quality, invent remediation, bioactive compounds. snitchIn countries which are humid throughout the year, couch is a putting thou problem that weed occur even on a estimator keyboard. It is smelly and may damage the data processor k eyboards. It is caused by fungal spores in the post. It can also affect occupants healthiness. This check is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of green sorbate to dishonor viability of indoor(a)(a) airborne fungus kingdom in a high-pitched educational grammatical construction of computer studies of a university located at Confederate Peninsular Malaysia. Malt extract agar (MEA) was incorporated with the biocide and was used for air sampling of fungus kingdom at 3 different web sites of the construction including outdoors. The dominance of the biocide was evaluated by comparing the treated agar against the untreated agar. It was clearly shown that the biocide can in effect(p)ly reduce the numbers of colony forming units of the airborne kingdom Fungi at all 3 tested sites (70% averagely) on the treated culture media, charm the untreated media at all three sites was colonized by fungus kingdom with different concentration.Introduction interior airborne fungal contaminat ion is a very common issue nowa geezerhood. Its presence brings a lot of problems to indoor occupants, create owners or managers as it affects the indoor air musical note (IAQ) of those infected constructs and it has been associated with unhealthy symptoms including headache, asthma, allergy and irritant effects, respiratory problems, mycoses (fungal diseases) and several opposite non-specific health problems 1. IAQ is defined as the air quality within an enclosed building that leads to the comfort and healthiness of its occupiers 2. It is a major concern as close people in the developed and developing countries, much(prenominal) as Malaysia, Singapore, Inthroughsia and others, exhausted most of their time indoor in either offices, factories, homes or educational buildings.It has been estimated that approximate 10% of people worldwide and 5% of the population in industrial countries have fungal allergies 3,4. Some kingdom Fungi such as Aspergillus versicolor and Stachybotrys chartarum are able to produce mycotoxins and have been associated with sick building syndrome 1 Many animal studies have confirmed that mycotoxins are associated with carcinogenic, immune-suppressive, and other properties 5. Fungi release tiny spores that float through the air and land on other locations to reproduce. When they settle on moist surfaces, the spores can form upstart mold colonies. If these airborne fungal spores or mycotoxins are inhaled into bronchia and alveoli, they will be lysed and the human body thereby exposed to the primary and secondary metabolites 6. ambition exposure has been suggested to cause acute kidney failure, damage of the upper respiratory tract, and rudimentary nervous system damage 7. Thus, the cosmea of these fungi is intolerable in indoor environment.Fungi can grow anywhere over a wide-ranging temperature with sufficient nutrients and moisture 8. Therefore, indoor mold problem has tenacious existed in year dour warm and humid countries lik e Malaysia and other southeast Asian countries. In previous research, airborne fungi maturement was put in in a high humid room (relative humidity 87%) in a higher educational building of computer studies later conventional remediation such as detergent-cleaning and changing of the affected cap boards 9. It is dangerous since researchers suggested that the chances of transmitting the contaminating microbes through apply of computers in a university setting is powerfulially great due to the enormous usage of computer keyboards that are not routinely sanitized by numerous users day by day 10. The study also shows that the conventional remediation is not a long term solution to circumvent the indoor airborne fungal contamination. However, green solutions are needed to reduce the viability of the airborne fungi and thereby the existence of secondary metabolites of fungi in indoor setting in decree to secure the quality of teaching and learning among educators and students in a u niversity building.Lately, a bioactive compound from food industry, cat valium sorbate had been shown to be able to control the growth of two fungus species (Chaetomium globosum and Alternaria alternate) isolated from an indoor waterborne coating 11. It is suggested to be effective against airborne fungi too. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the ability of potassium sorbate as a biocide to render the viability of indoor airborne fungi in a higher educational building of computer studies of a university located at Southern Peninsular Malaysia.Materials and MethodsSelection of Testing Sites. The indoor airborne fungal samples were taken from a new commissioning higher educational building of computer studies of a university in Johor, Malaysia that had been identified of having microbial growth in indoor environment from previous research 9. Three sites were selected by mountain pass through inspection. They were each to represent a microbial-contaminated site (A), relatively mildly-contaminated site (B) and outdoors (O) of the building. The location for outdoor sampling was as close as possible to the outdoor air intake for the primary air intervention system for the building 12.Biocide Antifungal Activity. The antifungal activity of the potassium sorbate as a biocide was evaluated by air sampling with biocide-treated and untreated culture media which takes into score that the concentration of the viable fungi can be represented by colony forming unit (CFU) analysis as the calculation underCFU/m3 = Number of colonies x 1000 Sampling time (min) x Flow rate (L/min). (1)The airborne fungi samples were unruffled using a BioStage single-stage viable cascade impactor (SKC, USA) attached to a SKC QuickTake 30 Sample Pump (SKC, USA) onto Malt Extract Agar (MEA) plates with 0.03% (w/v) biocide at a flow rate of 28.3 L/min as per requirement of content Institute of occupational refuge and Health (NIOSH) stated in method acting NIOSH Manual Analytical Standa rd Method (NMAM 0800). The impactor was located at the amount of the sampling location at a height of 1.0 to 1.5 meter higher up the floor. Every sample was obtained over 5 minute periods. The equal appendage was carried out with control MEA without biocides. Both kinds of sampling with treated and untreated MEA were done in triplicate at each site on the same day during office hours and in the presence of indoor occupants. The air samplings at different sites were carried out on different week. The samples were analysed for ingrained airborne fungi count by incubating them at 37C for 5 days and counting of the colony formed was done thereafter.Results and DiscussionsThe viability of summation airborne fungi on the biocide-treated MEA was successfully trim back by 76.2% averagely if compared to their viability on control MEA without biocide (Fig. 1). Notably, potassium sorbate showed the best capital punishment at the mildly-contaminated site, which had the lowest perfect a irborne fungi on control MEA, by successfully reducing the viability of total indoor airborne fungi by 84.2% on biocide-treated MEA. Meanwhile, its performance dropped when the mean concentrations of total airborne fungi on control MEA increase. The percentage of reduction of viability of total airborne fungi at the contaminated site and outdoors of the building are 63.9% and 80.4% respectively. The results indicate that potassium sorbate can show the best performance to control total indoor airborne fungi concentrations if it is applied in a clean environment. This is in accordance with the function of potassium sorbate in wine-making industry to prevent a second fermentation through explanation any surviving yeast incapable of metabolizing and multiplying 13. Hence, it is suggested that this biocide is very suitable to be applied together with and after conventional remediation of indoor fungal contamination periodically.Fig. 1 Comparison of viability of total airborne fungi on b iocide-treated and untreated MEA.According to Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality (ICOP-IAQ 2010) set by Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia, the maximum exposure limit of total indoor airborne fungi concentrations is 1000 CFU/m3. Any value of the concentrations of indoor airborne fungi that approaches or over 500 CFU/m3 can be also considered as a possible health hazard. In this study, this number was successfully reduced to below 100 CFU/m3 at two of the three testing sites and below 200 CFU/m3 at the contaminated site. These reductions might be due to high solubility of this biocide in water of growth media to convert to sorbic acid that exhibits potent antifungal properties with various mode of action such as contagious changes, alteration of morphological structure of cell, inhibition of enzymes and cell transport processes 14. alone of these after-treatments numbers suggests that potassium sorbate is a proper biocide to maintain the concentratio ns of total indoor airborne fungi at an acceptable healthy train for human beings.In a higher educational building of computer studies, computers are always shared. Touches of computer parts especially computer keyboards by students always occur without practicing of hand hygiene. The sweats or dirt on the hands and fingers of students left on the computer parts after they using them. This in turn provides nutrients and breeding sites for airborne fungi that settle on these computer parts. The reduction of the viability of indoor airborne fungi on the biocide-treated media indicates that the airborne fungi are unable to grow on the substrate that are treated with potassium sorbate and thus suggesting that this biocide can be applied on various wall coatings, surfaces of furniture and electrical appliances including these computer parts.In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that potassium sorbate is fit to be applied as a biocide in a higher educational building of compu ter studies to reduce the viability of indoor airborne fungi. This in turn reduces the amounts of secondary metabolites of fungi such as mycotoxin and fungal spores that can induce sick building syndrome and other unpleasant and uncomfortable feeling of indoor occupants.AcknowledgementThe authors greatly respect Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) and the supporting Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) 1479 for facilitating the hunt and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia (NIOSH) for providing technical assistance.ReferencesKuhn, D. M., Ghannoum, M. A. (2003). Indoor mold, toxigenic fungi, and Stachybotrys chartarum infectious disease perspective. Clinical microbiology reviews, 16(1), 144-172.Yau, Y.H. Chew, B.T. and Saifullah, A.Z.A. (2012) Studies on the indoor air quality of Pharmaceutical Laboratories in Malaysia. International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 1, 110124.Pasanen, A. L., Lappalainen, S., Pasanen, P. (1996). Volatile organic metabolites associated with some toxic fungi and their mycotoxins.Analyst, 121(12), 1949-1953.Hardin, B.D., Kelman, B.J. and Saxon, A. (2003) ill human health effects associated with molds in the indoor environment. J Occup Environ Med 45, 470478.Robbins, C. A., Swenson, L. J., Nealley, M. L., Kelman, B. J., Gots, R. E. (2000). Health effects of mycotoxins in indoor air a censorious review.Applied occupational and environmental hygiene,15(10), 773-784.Fischer, G., Dott, W. (2003). Relevance of airborne fungi and their secondary metabolites for environmental, occupational and indoor hygiene.Archives of Microbiology,179(2), 75-82.Miller, J. D. (1992). Fungi as contaminants in indoor air.Atmospheric Environment. Part A. everyday Topics,26(12), 2163-2172.Dangman, K. H., Schenck, P., DeBernardo, R. L., Yang, C. S., Bracker, A., Hodgson, M. J. (2004).Guidance for clinicians on the recognition and management of health effects related to mold exposure and moisture indoors. Fa rmington, CT University of Connecticut Health Center, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Center for Indoor Environments and Health.Er, C. M., Sunar, N. M., Mutalib, A., Norzila, O., Emparan, Q., Kalthsom, U., Gani, P., Jamal, N. A., Ideris, N. A. (2014). The Evaluation of Indoor Microbial Air Quality in a Southern Malaysia Universitys New commissioning Buildings. Applied Mechanics and Materials (in press).Anderson, G., Palombo, E. A. (2009). Microbial contamination of computer keyboards in a university setting.American journal of infection control,37(6), 507-509.Bellotti, N., Salvatore, L., Dey, C., Del Panno, M. T., del Amo, B., Romagnoli, R. (2013). The application of bioactive compounds from the food industry to control mold growth in indoor waterborne coatings. Colloids and Surfaces. B, Biointerfaces, 104, 1404.Reynolds, S. J., Black, D. W., Borin, S. S., Breuer, G., Burmeister, L. F., Fuortes, L. J., Whitten, P. (2001). Indoor environmental quality in six commercial office buildings in the middle west United States.Applied occupational and environmental hygiene,16(11), 1065-1077.Cojocaru, G. A., Antoce, A. O. (2012). Chemical And Biochemical Mechanisms of Preservatives Used in Wine A Review.dio,1, 100.Smilanick, J. L., Man influence, M. F., Gabler, F. M., Sorenson, D. (2008). Control of citrus postharvest green mold and sour rot by potassium sorbate combined with heat and fungicides.Postharvest Biology and Technology,47(2), 226-238.