Effect of Medicinal Smokes on Reduction of Fungal Indoor Air Contamination

Abstract

Introduction: As far as application of chemicals as disinfectants may have side effects on human health and causes drug resistance, the topic of herbal and natural products has been investigated in recent researches. Nevertheless, application of medicinal smokes in the treatment of many diseases, including bacterial and infectious diseases has long been popular in Iran. Smoke from the burning of Peganumharmala (Espand) and female donkey dung (Anbarnasa) are among these smokes which effects on ambient air fungi was investigated in the current study. Materials and Methods: In this analytical research, the smoking was conducted with different masses of Espand and Anbarnasa in the room space. Before and after smoking, air fungal sampling was performed with Anderson method. After three to five days, the composed fungal colonies were counted. Data were analyzed through the SPSS Software (Vs. 18) and Microsoft Excel (2007). Results: The indoor fungal removal percent by Espand smoke in 1, 3, and 5 minutes after smoking were 52.75 %, 64.72 %, and 77.28 %, respectively; and for the Anbarnasa smoke at these times were 54.6 %, 59.4 %, and 74 %. Increase in smoking time caused a significant increase (p < 0.05( in fungi removal, but change in the mass and the kind of smoking matter (Espand or Anbarnasa) did not cause any significant change in the removal. Conclusion: Smoking with Espand and Anbarnasa as well as duration of smoking can decrease the building's ambient air fungi burden significantly. Of course it is better to perform smoking in enclosed spaces especially in toilets and without the presence of the person.

Keywords

• Indoor Air
• Fungi
• Reduction
• Smoke.