Screening tools to estimate mold burdens in homes.
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.
Vesper
Stephen
S
United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. vesper.stephen@epa.gov
McKinstry
Craig
C
Bradham
Karen
K
Ashley
Peter
P
Cox
David
D
Dewalt
Gary
G
Lin
King-Teh
KT
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
D004391:Dust