Ms.
Dang Diep Yen Nga
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environment, University of Science, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Title of the talk: Study on The Indoor Bioaerosol (Bacteria) in Classrooms at Some Secondary Schools in Ho Chi Minh City
Abstract
Bioaerosol in the air has drawn great interest in recent times. The density and composition of bacteria in the air in some classrooms of two public secondary schools (PSS) in Ho Chi Minh City were assessed in this study. Indoor and outdoor airborne bacteria were collected from various locations: within the classroom (before, during, and after teaching) as indoor samples, and in the schoolyard (before break time, during break time, and after break time) as outdoor samples by using the SKC Biostage sampler equipped with Petri dishes in Plate Count Agar (PCA) medium for bacterial concentration. Bacteria in the samples were then analyzed by the 16S rRNA (16S Metabarcoding) method to determine the bacterial community composition. The results showed a close correlation between bacterial density and temperature, indicating that higher temperatures are conducive to bacterial growth within their adapted temperature range. Notably, the average bacterial density was observed to be high in both schools during teaching hours coinciding with the presence of the largest number of students and teachers in class: 459.95 ± 103.80 CFU/m3 at PSS 1 and 605.97 ± 46.91 CFU/m3 at PSS 2. The average concentration of bacteria during sampling periods was 267.49 ± 132.86 CFU/m3 at PSS 1 and 297.17 ± 136.84 CFU/m3 at PSS 2. On the other hand, with the method of 16S rRNA Metabarcoding identification, the diversity of bacterial species was detected in two secondary schools, showing more than 80 species of dominant genera such as Acinetobacter sp (55-82%), Staphylococcus sp (31-48%) and Bacillus sp (33-40) %). In this study, a preliminary survey in the classroom air found several common bacterial species capable of spreading pathogens.
Biography
Ms. Dang Diep Yen Nga is a third-year PhD student of University of Science, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. Now, she has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Environmental Science, Ho Chi Minh University of Science, Vietnam National University. She has been teaching some courses in Environmental Engineering and Technology, such as Applied Microbiology in Environment, Environmental Biochemistry and laboratory courses. She obtained her Master of Science in Environmental Technology and Management from the School of Environment, Resources and Development at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand (2006) with the thesis “Occurrence and Fate of Microbial Pathogens in Polluted Surface Water Bodies and Wastewater at Pathumthani province in Thailand”. She was also involved in several research initiatives on microbial pathogens/ microorganisms/ micro-algae in surface water, environmental analytical chemistry, and environmental monitoring and assessment in AIT and Vietnam. She has published two papers related to bioaerosol in early 2024.
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