High Levels Of Bacteria Found On City Buses

[george]

High levels of bacteria found on city buses

BANGKOK: The ventilation on some city buses is being improved after a team of Mahidol University researchers found buses shuttling through the heart of Bangkok had high concentrations of air-borne funguses and bacteria.

The team headed by Pipat Laksameejaralkul took air samples from both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned buses plying routes in the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's Sector 7 between November 2002 and March this year.

Pipat said his team found the sampled air contained bacteria and funguses in quantities that exceeded world safety standards.

The team also found that most drivers and conductors working the sector suffered regularly from respiratory ailments.

The team sampled air from buses travelling route numbers 16, 63, 67 and 166.

The No 16 buses had the highest levels of bacteria in the group while No 166 buses had the highest levels of fungus.

He said one in three of the air samples from non-air-conditioned No 16 buses was found to have levels of bacteria above the international standard - 500 CFU/M3 (colony-forming units per cubic metre). He said 6.1 per cent of sampled air from the air-conditioned buses were found to have bacteria in amounts higher than 500 CFU/M3.

He said 6.7 per cent and 2.8 per cent of air sampled from normal and air-conditioned No 166 buses respectively were found to have fungal particles in amounts higher than the 500 CFU/M3 standard.

The No 16 buses run from Srinarong station along Prachachue, Ratchada, Pracharat, Samsen, Phitsanulok, Nanglern Turf, Phetchaburi, Phayathai, Rama IV, Henri-Dunant, and Surawongse Roads before finishing at Surawongse Pier.

The No 166 route runs from Muang Thong Thani, along Chaeng Wattana Road, past Pakkred Pier, along the expressway to Rama VI, and then from Rajvithi Road to Victory Monument.

Pipat said 91.7 per cent of drivers and conductors from non-air-conditioned buses in the sector suffered from respiratory ailments now and then while 57.3 per cent of their counterparts from air-conditioned buses suffered similar problems.

The researcher said he had reported the findings to Deputy Transport Minister Nikorn Chamnong, who immediately ordered Sector 7 transit officials to improve ventilation on the buses.

Pipat said normal buses were ordered to operate fans at full capacity while the air-conditioned buses were instructed to use air ventilation fans and to wash the curtains every month, instead of once a year.

Pipat said he believed the conditions in the Sector 7 buses had already improved and that he would check the buses again soon.

He said his team had not yet surveyed buses in other areas.

--THE NATION 2203-12-22