Fungi in used bedding materials.

Few workers have been concernied with the occurrence of bacteria and fungi withini used beddinig, bedding materials, anid upholstered furniture. Such organisms may be present in the raw materials, added during normal use and storage, multiply under certaiin conditions of humidity, and may be transferred to new felt when new and used materials are garnetted. Conant et al. (1935) studied the mold spore populations of pillows, mattresses, chairs, davenports, and puffs, filled with kapok, hair, feathers, cotton, and wool. Rhizopus nigricans was found 32 times; Chactomium sp., 19; Aspergillus niger, 9; Aspergillus sp., 7; Penicilliurn sp., 20; Alacrosporium sp., 1; and Alternaria sp., 2. Swaebly and Christensen (1952) conducted a study of molds and bacteria in house dust, furniture stuffing, and the air of homes in the St. Paul and Minneapolis area, and reported that used furniture and filling materials contained larger numbers of fungi than new. Lloyd and Foter (1955; Foter and Lloyd, 1955), examined bedding which was artificially contaminated with nonsporulating and sporulating bacteria and spores of Aspergillus niger. They reported that treatment in a 300 cu ft chamber, with dry heat and formaldehyde was no more effective than treatment with dry heat alone at 230 F for 2/l hr in killing the test organisms on the surfaces of mattresses. Nonsporulating organisms were killed while bacterial and mold spores were not, and inside the mattresses little to no germicidal effect was noted. Wide temperature variation inside the test chambers was observed. To determine the efficacy of the dry heat treatment (230 F for 214 hr) on used mattresses in the process of renovating them for reuse, a series of samples was obtained and portions of these were examined for the bacterial and fungal populations present. New and used materials before treatment, and materials subjected to various degrees of dry heat treatment were studied. The present report is concerned with the identification of saprobic, potentially pathogenic or potentially allergenic fungi found in used bedding materials, and in the presence and extent of these fungi in untreated or heat treated bedding.