Indoor airborne fungal spores, house dampness and associations with environmental factors and respiratory health in children

Garrett, Maria H; Rayment, Philip Robert; Hooper, Martin A; Abramson, Michael J.; Hooper, Beverley M

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2222.1998.00255.x

Cited by 348 publications

(268 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

250

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Results have shown null, weak, and significant positive associations among the two exposure types as well as inconsistencies across studies with respect to the taxa showing associations with home characteristics (Waegemaekers et al, 1989;Strachan et al, 1990;Wickman et al, 1992;Li and Hsu, 1997;Garrett et al, 1998;Ren et al, 2001;Chew et al, 2003;O'Connor et al, 2004). These inconsistencies could be secondary to geographic location, season of sampling, as well as housing types and construction materials.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Numerous studies (primarily cross-sectional in design) involving older children and adults have reported at least one positive association between total airborne fungal or bacterial counts, or specific fungal taxa including Penicillium, Cladosporium, Aspergillus or Alternaria species, and respiratory symptoms including cough, wheeze and asthma (Platt et al, 1989;Strachan et al, 1990;Bjornsson et al, 1995;Li and Hsu, 1997;Garrett et al, 1998;Dharmage et al, 2001;Downs et al, 2001). Null findings in all age groups also have been reported for both airborne (Su et al, 2001) and dustborne fungi (Wickman et al, 1992;Verhoeff et al, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Null findings in all age groups also have been reported for both airborne (Su et al, 2001) and dustborne fungi (Wickman et al, 1992;Verhoeff et al, 1994). Some studies included participants with known diagnoses of asthma or allergies which may have been exacerbated by exposure to fungi (Bjornsson et al, 1995;Li and Hsu, 1997;Garrett et al, 1998;Dharmage et al, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

Rosenbaum

Crawford

Anagnost

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In studies worldwide, respiratory outcomes such as cough, wheeze and asthma have been consistently linked to mold exposure. Young children spend most of their time indoors and may be particularly vulnerable. We evaluated the associations between exposure to airborne fungal levels and episodes of wheezing in a cohort of 103 infants at risk for asthma (due to maternal history of asthma), living primarily in low-income urban settings. Using a new protocol that facilitates identification of rare and slow-growing fungi, we measured the type and concentration of cultured fungi in home air samples taken early in the infant's first year of life. We also inspected the homes for visible mold, water damage and other housing and environmental conditions. All homes had measurable indoor airborne fungi and 73%, had some sign of mold, water damage, dampness or a musty odor. One or more episodes of wheeze during the first year of life were observed in 38% of infants. Multiple logistic regression showed high indoor levels of Penicillium were a significant risk factor for wheeze (OR 6.18; 95% CI: 1.34-28.46) in the first year of life after controlling for season of sampling, smoking, endotoxin levels, day care attendance and confounders. Acrodontium, a rarely reported fungal genus, was detected in 18% of study homes, and was associated with wheeze in unadjusted models (OR 2.75; 95% CI 0.99-7.61), but not after adjustment for confounders. Total fungal levels, visually observed mold, dampness, water damage or musty odors were not significantly associated with wheeze.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

Rosenbaum

Crawford

Anagnost

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, attempts to correlate health outcomes with spore counts have not indicated strong associations. Furthermore, several field studies have shown that the concentrations of airborne fungal spores in mold problem buildings are not necessarily higher than in non-problem ones (Strachan et al, 1990;Nevalainen et al, 1991;Garrett et al, 1998;Chew et al, 2003). This indicates that spore concentrations may not be an adequate measure for fungal exposures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal fragments in moldy houses: A field study in homes in New Orleans and Southern Ohio

Reponen

Seo

Grimsley

et al. 2007

Atmospheric Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Smaller-sized fungal fragments (<1 μm) may contribute to mold-related health effects. Previous laboratory-based studies have shown that the number concentration of fungal fragments can be up to 500 times higher than that of fungal spores, but this has not yet been confirmed in a field study due to lack of suitable methodology. We have recently developed a field-compatible method for the sampling and analysis of airborne fungal fragments. The new methodology was utilized for characterizing fungal fragment exposures in mold-contaminated homes selected in New Orleans, Louisiana and Southern Ohio. Airborne fungal particles were separated into three distinct size fractions: (i) >2.25 μm (spores); (ii) 1.05-2.25 μm (mixture); and (iii) < 1.0 μm (submicrometersized fragments). Samples were collected in five homes in summer and winter and analyzed for (1→3)-β-D-glucan. The total (1→3)-β-D-glucan varied from 0.2 to 16.0 ng m −3 . The ratio of (1→3)-β-D-glucan mass in fragment size fraction to that in spore size fraction (F/S) varied from 0.011 to 2.163. The mass ratio was higher in winter (average = 1.017) than in summer (0.227) coinciding with a lower relative humidity in the winter. Assuming a mass-based F/S-ratio=1 and the spore size = 3 μm, the corresponding number-based F/S-ratio (fragment number/spore number) would be 10 3 and 10 6 , for the fragment sizes of 0.3 and 0.03 μm, respectively. These results indicate that the actual (field) contribution of fungal fragments to the overall exposure may be very high, even much greater than that estimated in our earlier laboratory-based studies.

show abstract

“…A few studies have described a decrease in the levels of airborne microbial compounds as a result of such repair (Rylander, 1997). On the other hand, high airborne fungal concentrations have been associated with failure to remove indoor mold growth (Garrett et al, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating effects of moisture damage repairs on students’ health—a long-term intervention study

Haverinen‐Shaughnessy

Pekkanen²,

Nevalainen³

et al. 2004

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Health symptom questionnaire responses were collected from upper secondary and high school students (n ¼ 245) before comprehensive repairs of moisture damage in the school. The questionnaire study was repeated 1 year (n ¼ 227), 3 years (n ¼ 256), and 5 years (n ¼ 233) after the repairs. The data were analyzed both in cross-sectional design including all respondents, and longitudinally including paired observations of those individuals who had responded both before and after the repairs. In addition, the effect of intervention on health symptoms was analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEEs), taking into account within-subject correlation between repeated measurements. Compared to the situation before the repairs, the situation after the repairs was significantly improved in most of the 20 symptoms studied among the cross-sectional study populations. However, improvement was not so clear in the paired analysis and GEE analysis among the students who responded to three repeated questionnaires. The results indicate that the repairs succeeded in the sense that new cases of symptomatic students were no longer expected. However, the reversibility of symptoms among the group of exposed individuals may need to be considered separately.

show abstract

Indoor airborne fungal spores, house dampness and associations with environmental factors and respiratory health in children

Cited by 348 publications

References 25 publications

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

Fungal fragments in moldy houses: A field study in homes in New Orleans and Southern Ohio

Estimating effects of moisture damage repairs on students’ health—a long-term intervention study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About