You are here:
GROWTH RESPONSE OF STACHYBOTRYS CHARTARUM TO MOISTURE VARIATION ON COMMON BUILDING MATERIALS
Citation:
Menetrez*, M Y., K. K. Foarde, T. D. Webber, D Betancourt, AND T R. Dean. GROWTH RESPONSE OF STACHYBOTRYS CHARTARUM TO MOISTURE VARIATION ON COMMON BUILDING MATERIALS. INDOOR AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT. SAGE Publications, THOUSAND OAKS, CA, 13(3):183-187, (2004).
Impact/Purpose:
Journal Article
Description:
The mold Stachybotrys chartarum has been found to be associated with idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage in infants and has been studied for toxin production and its occurrence in water damaged buildings. Growth of S. chartarum on building materials such as drywall has been frequently documented. Indoor exposure to S. chartarum has also been linked to pulmonary disease, including allergies and asthma. Given this significant risk of exposure and frequency of occurrence, environmental factors leading to the growth of S. chartarum have been studied. Commonly used building materials were sterilized, inoculated with S. chartarum and exposed to controlled levels of relative humidity and wetting. A quantitative analysis of viable S. chartarum was performed on the building materials during a seven month period. The results indicate that, for environments with a relative humidity below total saturation, wetting was necessary for visible growth to occur. Conversely, high levels of relative humidity without wetting did not initiate growth. Porous materials, after becoming sufficiently wet and measuring saturation on a moisture meter, exhibited mold growth in every experiment conducted.
URLs/Downloads:
Journal Access
Growth Responses of Stachhybotrys Chartarum to Moisture Variation on Common Building Materials (PDF, NA pp, 1722 KB, about PDF)