Mold Study Reveals Baseline Numbers

Original Article - Indian J. Aerobiol., Vol 21, No. 1, pp 13-23 (2008)
by R.Sahay1,S.Parvataneni1,R.Barns1,F.Aguirre1, A.Wozniak1,AB.Singh2,J.Gasana1

¹Environmental Diagnostics Laboratory at Pure Air, Clearwater, FL USA &
²Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, Delhi University Campus, Delhi

ABSTRACT

Surficial samples were collected on Bio-Scan400™ for mold evaluation in buildings and homes. Bio-Scan400™ is a sample collection device for environmental surface sampling. Over six thousand five hundred Bio-Scan™ samples were collected over a period of five years (2004-2008) from both residential and commercial facilities across the United States to find out the types and abundance of mold growing on indoor surfaces such as dry-wall, insulation liner, carpet and other building materials. This study establishes a reliable reference including numerical value in terms of counts/cm² for evaluating mold in a building. Findings suggest that numerically 50 counts/cm² should be adapted as a cutoff value for determining normal background mold levels in buildings; although mold population dynamics vary greatly with the nature and composition of the surface.

Key Words: Mold, Bio-Scan400™, Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ), EDLab

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