INTRODUCTION:

Studies on airborne mycobiota from libraries show a wide variety of fungi, including those potentially pathogenic, offering occupational risk and allergic manifestations to their visitors.

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the occurrence of anemophilous fungi in libraries of educational institutions of basic and higher education in the city of Maceió, Alagoas State, Brazil.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Samples of the air were obtained from the exposure of 55 Petri dishes containing Sabouraud agar with chloramphenicol in three libraries of three educational institutions. The resulting fungal colonies were subjected to identification through the association of macroscopic and microscopic aspects, using microculture. Complementary phenotypic assays were also performed.

RESULTS:

A total of 351 colony-forming units (CFU) were obtained from the 55 analyzed samples, of which 331 (94.3%) were filamentous fungi and 20 (5.7%) were yeasts. The most frequent filamentous fungus species were Penicillium sp., Cladosporium sp., Alternaria sp., Aspergillus sp., and Curvularia sp., with a greater predominance of Penicillium sp. in a library that was not acclimatized, with 80 (22.7%) CFU.

CONCLUSION:

The results of this study show a great diversity of fungi with pathogenic and toxigenic potential, which can trigger allergic processes, thus confirming the importance of establishing hygiene and disinfection protocols in this type of environment.

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