Exposures to molds in school classrooms of children with asthma. Issue 7 (8th October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baxi, Sachin N.; Muilenberg, Michael L.; Rogers, Christine A.; Sheehan, William J.; Gaffin, Jonathan; Permaul, Perdita; Kopel, Lianne S.; Lai, Peggy S.; Lane, Jeffrey P.; Bailey, Ann; Petty, Carter R.; Fu, Chunxia; Gold, Diane R.; Phipatanakul, Wanda
• Is Part Of: Pediatric allergy and immunology. Volume 24:Issue 7(2013)
• Page Start: 697
• Page End: 703
• Publication Date: 2013-10-08
• Subjects: Allergy in children -- Periodicals; Immunologic diseases in children -- Periodicals; 617
• DOI: 10.1111/pai.12127
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0905-6157

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="pai12127-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="pai12127-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Students spend a large portion of their day in classrooms which may be a source of mold exposure. We examined the diversity and concentrations of molds in inner‐city schools and described differences between classrooms within the same school.</p> </sec> <sec id="pai12127-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Classroom airborne mold spores, collected over a 2 day period, were measured twice during the school year by direct microscopy.</p> </sec> <sec id="pai12127-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>There were 180 classroom air samples collected from 12 schools. Mold was present in 100% of classrooms. Classrooms within the same school had differing mold levels and mold diversity scores. The total mold per classroom was 176.6 ± 4.2 spores/m3 (geometric mean ± standard deviation) and ranged from 11.2 to 16, 288.5 spores/m3. Mold diversity scores for classroom samples ranged from 1 to 19 (7.7 ± 3.5). The classroom accounted for the majority of variance (62%) in the total mold count, and for the majority of variance (56%) in the mold diversity score versus the school. The species with the highest concentrations and found most commonly included Cladosporium (29.3 ± 4.2 spores/m3), Penicillium/Aspergillus (15.0 ± 5.4 spores/m3), smut spores (12.6 ± 4.0 spores/m3), and basidiospores (6.6 ± 7.1 spores/m3).</p> </sec> <sec id="pai12127-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Our study found that the school is a source of mold exposure, but particularly the classroom microenvironment varies in quantity of spores and species among classrooms within the same school. We also verified that visible mold may be a predictor for higher mold spore counts. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical significance of mold exposure relative to asthma morbidity in sensitized and non‐sensitized asthmatic children.</p> </sec> </abstract>