Mold is everywhere, from your home to your office, and while generally unharmful to healthy humans, it can it has the potential to increase risk of respiratory symptoms, respiratory infections and worsen asthma.
Earlier this month, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) released a new fact sheet on mold, including information on NTP’s current research efforts.
NTP has collaborated with the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to focus on addressing the important questions related to preventing potential health effects from occupational exposures to mold. According to the fact sheet, NTP has already made headway in it's efforts by supporting NIOSH in the development of an acoustical generator, a device that can create and disperse molds for rodents similar to human exposure and by collaborating with researchers in a study to assess the levels of fungal sensitization among farmers.
The NTP is also working on developing methods to more accurately determine the levels of fungal products from water-damaged buildings; using new DNA-based tools, to help quantify mold contamination; and characterizing the diversity of fungi found in typical homes using air and dust samples collected from different rooms of homes participating in the Kansas City Safe and Healthy Homes Partnership project.
The fact sheet, available in NTP's website, also includes basic information on mold, routes of exposure, the health effects of mold, and the importance of studying mold.