Indoor Air Quality and Human Health: Truth vs Mass Hysteria

Chang, Christopher; Gershwin, M. Eric

doi:10.1385/criai:27:3:219

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 108 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The only missing denominator in SBS is the diagnosis of defined autoimmune disease. Symptoms of SBS have been described in tens of thousands of people worldwide, although in the relevant studies the proportions of patients suffering from each clinical manifestation have not always been reported in definite percentages [14,[25][26][27][28]. SBS as a medical condition also fits well with the criteria suggested by Shoenfeld and Agmon-Levin [11] for ASIA (Table 3).…”

Section: Sbs and Autoimmune (Auto-inflammatory) Syndrome Induced By Asupporting

confidence: 66%

The sick building syndrome as a part of the autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants

Israeli

Pardo

2010

Mod Rheumatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a term coined for a set of clinically recognizable symptoms and ailments without a clear cause reported by occupants of a building. In the 1990s the term "functional somatic syndromes" was applied to several syndromes, including SBS, multiple chemical sensitivity, repetition stress injury, the side effects of silicone breast implants, the Gulf War syndrome (GWS), chronic fatigue syndrome, the irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. Recently, Shoenfeld and Agmon-Levin suggested that four conditions--siliconosis, macrophagic myofascitis, the GWS, and post-vaccination phenomena--which share clinical and pathogenic resemblances, may be included under a common syndrome entitled the "autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants". Comparison of the clinical manifestations, symptoms, and signs of the four conditions described by Shoenfeld and Agmon-Levin with those described for SBS shows that nine out of ten main symptoms are present in all 5 conditions. Shoenfeld and Agmon-Levin further propose several major and minor criteria, which, although requiring further validation, may aid in the diagnosis of this newly defined syndrome. We propose here that SBS may also be included as a part of "Shoenfeld's syndrome".

show abstract

Section: Sbs and Autoimmune (Auto-inflammatory) Syndrome Induced By Asupporting

confidence: 66%

The sick building syndrome as a part of the autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants

Israeli

Pardo

2010

Mod Rheumatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Levels of outdoor fungi are affected by local climate conditions, such as rainfall and temperature [12]. Outdoor concentrations of bacteria and fungi contribute to the indoor levels via infiltration through the building envelope [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of dwelling characteristics on concentrations of bacteria, fungi, endotoxin and total inflammatory potential in settled dust

Spilak

Madsen

Knudsen

et al. 2015

Building and Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

(2015). Impact of dwelling characteristics on concentrations of bacteria, fungi, endotoxin and total inflammatory potential in settled dust. Building and Environment, 93(1), 64-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.03.031 General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at vbn@aub.aau.dk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. a b s t r a c tIndoor air in homes contains a variety of organic agents such as bacteria, endotoxin and fungi. Epidemiological studies have shown links between these components and respiratory problems and the development of allergies. Twenty-eight dwellings located in the Greater Copenhagen area in Denmark were investigated in this study. Temperature, relative humidity and air exchange rate were measured. Dwelling characteristics including floor area, volume of the living room, floor material, year of construction of buildings and floor level were collected. The microbial exposure was measured by quantifying fungi, bacteria and endotoxin concentration in airborne dust collected by Electrostatic Dust fall Collectors (EDCs). The Total Inflammatory Potential (TIP) of the dust was also measured.Significantly higher concentrations of fungi were found in dwellings with high relative humidity (p ¼ 0.03), larger room volume (p ¼ 0.03) and in dwellings located on the second floor or higher (p ¼ 0.02). Small floor area per person and low air exchange rate were significantly associated with increased concentrations of bacteria (both p < 0.01). Spring season (p ¼ 0.01), buildings constructed before the 20th century (p ¼ 0.09) and wooden floor (p ¼ 0.03) were associated with high TIP.In conclusion, people living in smaller dwellings or in dwellings on upper floors are at higher risk of microbial exposure. While TIP was affected by some dwelling characteristics, it was mainly influenced by season.

show abstract

“…These specific activities results in excessive moisture adding to exceeded hydrocarbons limits due to burnings which cooperatively create an ''out-ofbalance'' environment that will tend to increase indoor microbial pollution (Chang and Gershwin 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of actinomycetes isolated from the indoor air of the church of Saint Katherine Monastery, Egypt

Abdulla¹,

Morshedy²,

Dewedar³

2007

Aerobiologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Actinomycetes were isolated from the indoor air of the church of Saint Katherin Monastery during different visiting hours. Fifty air samples collected over one year by using automated air sampler were plated on four different media. The low nutrient-content medium 1/10 SC was significantly effective in recovery of actinomycetes compared to the other formula of rich media. Average counts of bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi were 487, 65 and 90 cfu/m 3 , respectively. Fifty-six morphologically different actinomycetes isolates were recovered during this study assigned into five different genera, in addition to three unidentified isolates. Tentative identification of the isolates indicated predominance of genus Streptomyces, representing 59% of the isolates. Isolates were screened for resistance to 11 antibiotics, antimicrobial activities towards seven microbial strains, Growth on 12 different carbon source, acid production and pigmentation. About 77% of actinomycete isolates were resistant to the antibiotics with different resistance patterns. 12.5% of the airborne actinomycetes exhibited antinmicrobial activities. The isolates showed wide variation in carbon source usage. Forty percent of the isolates were able to utilize all tested carbon sources while 80% were acid producers. Melanin production was produced by 34% of the isolates. While 45% of the isolates were able to produce other diffusible pigments, the majority of the pigments were brown in color however; yellow, orange and green pigments were produced by a number of isolates. The impact of these activities on the historical objects of the church and the tourist's health is discussed.

show abstract

Indoor Air Quality and Human Health: Truth vs Mass Hysteria

Cited by 27 publications

References 108 publications

The sick building syndrome as a part of the autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants

The sick building syndrome as a part of the autoimmune (auto-inflammatory) syndrome induced by adjuvants

Impact of dwelling characteristics on concentrations of bacteria, fungi, endotoxin and total inflammatory potential in settled dust

Characterization of actinomycetes isolated from the indoor air of the church of Saint Katherine Monastery, Egypt

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About