title: Screening tools to estimate mold burdens in homes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to develop screening tools that could be used to estimate the mold burden in a home which would indicate whether more detailed testing might be useful.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two possible screening methods were considered for mold analysis: use of vacuum cleaner bag dust rather than the standard protocol dust samples and reducing the number of molds needed to be quantified resulting in the creation of an alternative mold burden scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Vacuum bag dust analysis placed the estimate of mold burden into the upper or lower half of the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index scale. Mold burdens estimated by only 12 species produced an index, the American Relative Moldiness Index, with a correlation of rho = 0.80 with the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Two screening tools were developed for estimating the mold burden in homes.
authors.affiliation: United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. vesper.stephen@epa.gov
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vesper
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McKinstry
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bradham
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dewalt
authors.forename: King-Teh
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014481:United States; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency; D014618:Vacuum
chemical_list: D004391:Dust