Indoor dampness and mould health effects - ongoing questions on microbial exposures and allergic versus nonallergic mechanisms

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cox-Ganser, Jean M.
• Description:
  For some time now, it has been apparent that living, working, or going to school in damp buildings is associated with adverse health effects. In 2004 and 2009, two major reviews were published relating to health effects and damp indoor environments. These were the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report and the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for dampness and mould. In 2011, a follow-up review to the WHO guidelines was published. These three publications documented that occupants of damp indoor environments are at risk for upper and lower respiratory symptoms, onset and exacerbation of asthma, respiratory infections, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, allergic rhinitis, eczema, and bronchitis. The IOM report covered pertinent literature published up to late 2003 on a wide range of health effects including asthma. The findings regarding asthma were that sufficient evidence existed for associating the presence of mould or other agents in damp buildings with asthma exacerbations and that limited or suggestive evidence existed for associating exposure to damp indoor environments with asthma development. The committee concluded that excessive indoor dampness is a public health problem and that prevention or reduction of this condition should be a public health goal. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Asthma Asthma, Occupational Environmental Exposure Environmental Health Environmental Pollution Fungi Hazardous Substances Irritants Lung Lung Diseases Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Bronchial-asthma Environmental-exposure Environmental-hazards Exposure-levels Health-hazards Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Molds Pneumoconiosis Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-infections Respiratory-irritants Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-factors

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• ISSN:
  0954-7894
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  RHD - Respiratory Health Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  45
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047031
• Citation:
  Clin Exp Allergy 2015 Oct; 45(10):1478-1482
• Contact Point Address:
  Jean M Cox-Ganser, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Health, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV, 26508
• Email:
  jjc8@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Clinical and Experimental Allergy
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1c96d7b62b0f867b1152ad7659c8cdb85dfb098a3c72389ed4e26c05995b4b3062c46a17b4d1a752755ae52b15c3779650105ae2d491756df0baf567292f9ccd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202263/cdc_202263_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 127.66 KB ]