The role of airborne fungal spores from garbage dumps in respiratory diseases.

In recent years, there has been a growing global, regional and local concern about the potential health hazards associated with air pollution. Great attention has so far been paid to pollution associated with oxides of sulphur, CO, nitrogen oxides, O(3), trace organics, selected trace metals like lead, and miscelleneous suspended particulate matter. But, apart from these much talked about pollutants, urban air pollution associated with fungal spores from garbage pose a major environmental human health problem in most urban centres in Africa. Garbage probably accounts for most of the fungal spores in air, and, therefore, people, particularly those living close to heaps of garbage are exposed to very high concentrations of fungal spores. There is a possibility that a high correlation exists between the current incidence of respiratory infections and levels of fungal spores in the air. Air pollution by fungal spores has not been a matter of great concern in the past, and therefore, it is time we drew the environmentalists' attention and public awareness on this real and potentially hazardous issue. In this article, potential human health hazards resulting from moulds growing on crude garbage dumps in the vicinity of human habitation are discussed.