Air-Borne Mycoflora in the Schools Environment in Hofuf, Al Hassa Province of Saudi Arabia

This study was conducted to collect the air-borne mycoflora from the environment of Primary and Secondary schools during the period from 1st of April till the end of May 2007. A total number of 13 fungal genera were isolated. Genus Aspergillus was the most predominant and showed the highest number of cfu/m3 of air followed by Penicillium, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Rhodotorula, Mucor, Alternaria, Acremonium, Curvularia, Stachybotrys, Rhizopus, Drechslera and Ulocladium in the descending order. Generally, environment of primary schools yielded greater number of fungal cfu compared to secondary schools in all the localities of Hofuf city. This is the first record of airborne fungi from schools environment in Hofuf city, Saudi Arabia