[Characterization of air mycobiota in two repositories of the National Archives of the Republic of Cuba].

BACKGROUND: The high relative humidity and temperatures in tropical countries create favorable conditions for development of fungi that are not only a risk to human health but they can also colonize documentary support.

AIMS: To study the concentration of the airborne fungi in two repositories of the National Archives of the Republic of Cuba, the mycobiota deposited on different photographic supports and maps preserved in these repositories, and to determine the taxonomic characterization of the fungi isolated.

METHODS: The air sampling was performed using a sedimentation method, and the supports (6 pictures and 7 maps) were analyzed using moistened sterile swabs.

RESULTS: The Cladosporium genus was predominant, followed by Aspergillus and Penicillium genera. Filamentous fungi were isolated in all the photos and maps, and yeasts were only isolated from a photographic supports and a map. We identified several species of Aspergillus and Penicillium genera, but Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus predominated. Candida and Rhodotorula were the yeast genera isolated.

CONCLUSIONS: The fungal concentration of the air demonstrated that the environments were not contaminated. From the 26 species of filamentous fungi isolated only 5 were detected in the indoor air of the repositories and on one or more of the document supports analyzed (representing a 19.3%). This shows that there is a low ecological relationship between the fungi detected in the indoor air and those that were isolated from the supports studied.