ABSTRACT

Indoor air quality (AIQ)) is a term which refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. This study provides information on the current concentration of microorganisms and describes bacterial and fungal loads for different Female and male dormitories of Demonstration Secondary School Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike.This work is an analytical study involving settle plate methods for microbial count and the use of analytical instruments for humidity, CO₂ and temperature assessment. Standard Scientific Principles like Gram staining and biochemical tests were adopted to establish microbial flora. The result shows remarkable variation in the recorded microbial counts: bacterial and fungal counts. For instance, sampling time 8.30am to 9.00am Dormitory 1 (D1) 323.83×10² Cfu/m³ bacterial counts, D1 fungal count was 834.17×10² Cfu/m³ at the evening 4.00pm for D1 was 863.33 ×10² Cfu/m³ bacterial count while the fungal count recorded 361.67 ×10² Cfu/m³. D5 had the highest concentration of bacteria in the evenings at 26°C with the mean of 3089 .± 3494.44. D2 has the highest concentration of fungi with the mean of 2983.± 8.4212.07  D3 had the lowest temperature in the morning with 22.15°C while D6 had the highest temperature with 66.85°C. The Bacteria organism found mainly in all the dormitories is Staphylococus species. For fungi D1, 2, 3 and 5 had more of Penicillin chrysogenium. This shows that attention should be given to control sources of indoor air pollution and environmental factors which favour the growth and multiplication of microbes in indoor environment of the dormitories to safeguard the health of the students. Based on the findings the following recommendations were made:  Proper maintenance culture should be adopted, there should also be a well channelled waste disposal system for the disposal of solid waste and liquid waste and efficient artificial ventilation systems such as air conditioners should be put in place in other to improve the indoor air quality of the dormitories.

Key words: Air, Indoor air quality, Air pollution, Agar.