Testing the association between residential fungus and health using ergosterol measures and cough recordings

被引:23
作者
Dales, RE
Miller, D
White, J
机构
[1] Hlth Canada, Air Qual Sect, Ottawa, ON K1A OK9, Canada
[2] Carleton Univ, Dept Biochem, Inst Biochem, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
[3] Canada Mortgage & Housing, Natl Off, Ottawa, ON K1A OP7, Canada
关键词
aerobiology; air pollution; bioaerosols; epidemiology; fungus; health; indoor;
D O I
10.1023/A:1007096704217
中图分类号
Q93 [微生物学];
学科分类号
071005 ; 100705 ;
摘要
Questionnaire surveys in several countries have consistently detected an association between symptoms and residential mould growth. Confirmation by objective measures would strengthen the argument for causality. To address this issue, quantitative and qualitative fungal measures (airborne ergosterol and viable fungi in dust) were compared to respiratory symptoms (n = 403) and nocturnal cough recordings (n = 145) in Canadian elementary schoolchildren during the winter of 1993-1994. There was a 25 percent to 50 percent relative increase in symptom prevalence when mould was reported to be present (p < 0.05). However, neither symptoms nor recorded cough was related to objective measures of mould. In conclusion, the inability to find an association between objective measures of fungus and health suggest that either these objective measures, or the traditionally used questionnaire data are inaccurate. This discrepancy limits the acceptance of a causal relation between indoor fungal growth and illness.
引用
收藏
页码:21 / 27
页数:7
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