Mouldy buildings

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Mouldy buildings

Most of us spend our time mainly indoors, in contact with indoor surfaces and breathing indoor air. Modern buildings with their complicated structures and technical equipment are vulnerable for moisture problems, which often lead to microbial growth on building surfaces and health problems of the occupants. Mouldy environment is a risk factor for asthma, respiratory infections and irritation symptoms. This is an old and universal phenomenon, yet its causative agents, exposure patterns and mechanisms of action are poorly understood.

Our research on indoor microbes and health focuses on characterising the exposures and health effects linked with building moisture and microbial growth. We analyse and model the processes leading to moisture damage, the microbial ecology in the buildings, especially the behaviour of toxin-producing microbes on moist building materials, and develop exposure assessment methods. Since only few of the exposed subjects develop IgE mediated allergies to microbes, a major challenge is to explain how the observed symptoms develop via other immunologic pathways, such as non-specific inflammation. Experimental, epidemiological and clinical approaches are used in this research.

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