U.S. Micro-Solutions, Inc. Environmental Laboratory
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Dust Sampling Protocols
The collection of dust in a building may give some historic information as to the types and concentrations of moulds colonizing indoor sites. Dust, house dust, or settled dust are terms used to
describe the material that collects on horizontal surfaces in textiles,
upholstered furniture and carpets.
Dust samples can be collected
using a suction device, filter for full size vacuum cleaner, or
particle sampling devices fitted with specially designed filters. The
dust sample is weighed and dispersed in a sterile liquid, diluted as
necessary and inoculated on appropriate agar media. The selection and the incubation temperature of the
agar depends upon the microbes under investigation.
Once the
media is selected and the incubation temperature determined, the fungal
and bacterial colonies are allowed to grow. As colonies mature, they
are quantified and identified to the genus level and speciated when
possible. The concentrations are expressed in terms of colony forming
units per gram of material (CFU/g) or colony forming units per area
sampled (CFU/ft²).
A few guidelines when dust sampling:
Collect sample (dust) on 0.4 to 0.8 um sterile filters by means of a vacuum pump that delivers 15-28 liters of air/minute.
Collect sufficient sample (Quarter size amount of dust) so that a culture can be performed. If carpet sample is to be submitted for analysis, obtain several square feet areas.
U.S. Micro-Solutions, Inc. provides customers with free Carpet Dust Cassettes. Call (724) 853-4047 for details.
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