Assessment of Fungal Propagules in Some Selected Banking Halls of the University of Cape Coast Community, Ghana

Abstract

The objective of this project work was to determine the level of fungal propagule contamination and identify specific species of the fungal propagule in some Banking Halls on the University of Cape Coast campus and its environs. Samples were collected in petri dishes containing Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA), exposed to the top, middle and bottom parts of the banking halls. The results showed that in all the banks, the bottom part was the most contaminated, followed by the middle and the top being the least contaminated. Banks A, B, C and D recorded fungal loads of 11 cfu/ml, 67 cfu/ml, 58 cfu/ml and 75 cfu/ml respectively, which were in accordance to the sizes of the Banks. In all, six different fungal species were identified with varied percentage frequency of occurrence, which included: Aspergillus niger (30.81%), Aspergillus fumigatus (27.96%), Aspergillus flavus (23.70%), Fusarium chlamydosporum (8.06%), Rhizopus stolonifer (5.21%) and Penicillium spp. (4.27%). Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Aspergillus niger were present in all the four Banks; Rhizopus stolonifer was present in Banks A, B and D; Fusarium chlamydosporum was also present in Banks B, C and D and Penicillium spp. was present in only Banks C and D. Preliminary study showed that out-door fungal concentration was high than all indoor values recorded and this was due to the exo-genal fungal out-door. P-value data was analyzed descriptively using graphic pad prism (version 5), one-way analysis of variance was used to determine significance where (p≤0.05) is significant whilst (p≥0.05) is not significant. Only in bank D was there a significant p-value recorded for Fusarium chlamydosporum (p≤0.001). The research concluded that, there was fungal propagule in the Banking Halls, which poses health problems to their workers and patrons over a period of time.