Indoor Airborne Mold Spores in Newly Built Dwellings

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the relationships between sick building syndrome and mold in newly-built dwellings. Methods: Symptoms of 61 residents in 18 dwellings were surveyed by standardized questionnaires. Mold sampling was done by gravity sampling using an open Petri dish. Potato dextrose agar (PDA) and dichloran-18% glycerol agar (DG-18) were used as the culture medium. Results: There were 6 dwellings in which at least one inhabitant complained of one or more symptoms and 12 dwellings in which none of the inhabitants complained of symptoms. There was a tendency for the dwellings with inhabitants reporting symptoms to have larger colony forming units (CFU) on PDA than those without inhabitants reporting symptoms (p=0.1), but there was no difference in DG-18 result. There was a tendency for the dwellings with inhabitants reporting symptoms to have larger CFU of Cladosporium on PDA than those without (p=0.08), but there was no difference in DG-18 result. Significantly more Ulocladium sp. was detected in the dwellings with inhabitants reporting symptoms than in those without (p=0.03). Cladosporium cladosporioides was detected in all the dwellings with inhabitants reporting symptoms and 75% of the dwellings without. Cladosporium macrocarpum and Cladosporium herbarum were detected in 33% of the dwellings with inhabitants reporting e symptoms and none of the dwellings without (p=0.1). Conclusion: Cladosporium was dominant in the Japanese newly-built dwellings studied, and Cladosporium and Ulocladium were probably associated with the residents’ symptoms in these newly-built dwellings.