Application of the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index in Finland

Martin Täubel; Anne M Karvonen; Tiina Reponen; Anne Hyvärinen; Stephen Vesper; Juha Pekkanen

doi:10.1128/AEM.02785-15

Application of the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index in Finland

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2015 Nov 6;82(2):578-84. doi: 10.1128/AEM.02785-15. Print 2016 Jan 15.

Authors

Martin Täubel¹, Anne M Karvonen², Tiina Reponen³, Anne Hyvärinen², Stephen Vesper⁴, Juha Pekkanen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Living Environment and Health Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland martin.taubel@thl.fi.
² Living Environment and Health Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland.
³ Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁴ United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
⁵ Living Environment and Health Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract

The environmental relative moldiness index (ERMI) metric was previously developed to quantify mold contamination in U.S. homes. This study determined the applicability of the ERMI for quantifying mold and moisture damage in Finnish residences. Homes of the LUKAS2 birth cohort in Finland were visually inspected for moisture damage and mold, and vacuumed floor dust samples were collected. An ERMI analysis including 36 mold-specific quantitative PCR assays was performed on the dust samples (n = 144), and the ERMI metric was analyzed against inspection-based observations of moisture damage and mold. Our results show that the ERMI was significantly associated with certain observations of visible mold in Finnish homes but not with moisture damage. Several mold species occurred more frequently and at higher levels in Finnish than in U.S. homes. Modification of the ERMI toward Finnish conditions, using a subsample of LUKAS2 homes with and without moisture damage, resulted in a simplified metric based on 10 mold species. The Finnish ERMI (FERMI) performed substantially better in quantifying moisture and mold damage in Finnish homes, showing significant associations with various observations of visible mold, strongest when the damage was located in the child's main living area, as well as with mold odor and moisture damage. As shown in Finland, the ERMI as such is not equally well usable in different climates and geographic regions but may be remodeled to account for local outdoor and indoor fungal conditions as well as for moisture damage characteristics in a given country.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cohort Studies
Dust / analysis
Environmental Monitoring*
Finland
Fungi / genetics
Fungi / growth & development*
Fungi / isolation & purification*
Housing / standards*
Odorants / analysis

Substances

Dust

Grants and funding

LUKAS2 was supported by research grants from the European Union (grant QLK4-CT-2001-00250), the Graduate School in Environmental Health (SYTYKE), EVO and VTR funding, the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (Mela), the Academy of Finland (grants 139021 and 287675), the Juho Vainio Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare.