Microfungal contamination of damp buildings--examples of risk constructions and risk materials.

Abstract

To elucidate problems with microfungal infestation in indoor environments, a multidisciplinary collaborative pilot study, supported by a grant from the Danish Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, was performed on 72 mold-infected building materials from 23 buildings. Water leakage through roofs, rising damp, and defective plumbing installations were the main reasons for water damage with subsequent infestation of molds. From a score system assessing the bioavailability of the building materials, products most vulnerable to mold attacks were water damaged, aged organic materials containing cellulose, such as wooden materials, jute, wallpaper, and cardboard. The microfungal genera most frequently encountered were Penicillium (68%), Aspergillus (56%), Chaetomium (22%), Ulocladium, (21%), Stachybotrys (19%) and Cladosporium (15%). Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus versicolor, and Stachybotrys chartarum were the most frequently occurring species. Under field conditions, several trichothecenes were detected in each of three commonly used building materials, heavily contaminated with S. chartarum. Under experimental conditions, four out of five isolates of S. chartarum produced satratoxin H and G when growing on new and old, very humid gypsum boards. A. versicolor produced the carcinogenic mycotoxin sterigmatocystin and 5-methoxysterigmatocystin under the same conditions.

Identifying risk factors for exposure to culturable allergenic moulds in energy efficient homes by using highly specific monoclonal antibodies

“…Furthermore, increased allergen production during spore 95 germination has been demonstrated (Green et al, 2003;Lee et al, 2006;Mitakakis 96 et al, 2001; cause allergic reactions such as Aspergillus (Gravesen et al, 1999;Patterson and 100 Strek, 2010; Shen et al, 2007), Penicillium (Gravesen et al, 1999;Shen et al, 101 2007), Ulocladium (Gravesen et al, 1999;Kaur et al, 2010), Alternaria (Breitenbach 102 and Simon-Nobbe, 2002), Epicoccum (Bisht et al, 2000), Cladosporium (Breitenbach 103 and Simon-Nobbe, 2002;Gravesen et al, 1999), Trichoderma (Lübeck et al, 2000),…”

Moldy buildings, health of their occupantsand fungal prevention

“…(11-13) and other genera, incl. Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, Chaetomium, Ulocladium and Alternaria (13)(14)(15)(16)(17) from the indoor environment of buildings. Scheel et al (18) collected samples of the moldy ceiling tiles at he Central Middle School in Tennessee, USA.…”

Morphological Significance of Cladosporium Contaminants on Materials and Utensils in Contact with Food

“…The ease of adsorption of water by the wood resulted in the humid conditions that favored contamination. Cladosporium penetration into synthetic substrates has been documented (Gravesen et al, 1999;Gu, 2003). Cladosporium and other fungi degrade many kinds of materials (Han et al, 2002;Park et al, 2001).…”