Assessment of antifungal agent for the treatment of Culvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp.

Abstract

Fungal contamination in the indoor environment has become the major topic nowadays as it has been related to bad health impacts especially to children as they are more susceptible to diseases. An antifungal agent could act as the remediation to ensure indoor environment become less favorable to fungal growth. However, due to insufficient information on the use of antifungal agents in treating indoor fungal contamination, they were not widely considered for environmental application. The purposes of this study are to collect and identify the type of fungi present in indoor environment of preschool building, to obtain the pure culture of the collected indoor fungi in preschool building and lastly to access the efficacy and compare the efficiency of antifungal agents for indoor fungal remediation. The indoor fungi were collected using Anderson air sampler stage 6 at a classroom of Permata PKPS kindergarten. Wet-mount slide technique was used to identify the fungal colonies collected and they were identified up to their genus level. The fungal colonies were identified as Culvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. Pure culture of Curvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. were successfully obtained. The efficacy and efficiency of the antifungal agents were assessed using disc diffusion technique through the diameter of zone of inhibition formed. The five antifungal agents tested in this study were tea tree oil, lemongrass oil, vinegar, 70% ethanol and Febreze. Four out of five tested antifungal agents exhibited antifungal properties. They were tea tree oil, lemongrass oil, vinegar and Febreze. The finding of this study shows that lemongrass oil was the most effective antifungal agents as it completely inhibited the growth of both Curvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. and also have the ability to inhibit the production of spore of Curvularia sp. and Lichtheimia sp. Hence, lemongrass oil should be considered as remediation for fungal contamination in indoor environment to maintain good indoor air quality.