Validity of Indoor Mold Swab Sampling Techniques InspectAPedia® -
Limitations of swab tests for mold contamination
Advice for mold testing using surface swabs
Mold swab tests - valid?
Questions & answers about using swabs to collect samples & to test for mold contamination in buildings & about PCR tests for mold contamination in buildings
This article explains the use of mold test swabs to collect mold test samples to screen buildings for harmful indoor mold, followed by a discussion of PCR for mold identification and building mold screens. In this article series discuss the validity of nearly all of the popular mold testing methods currently in use, pointing out the strengths and weakness of each approach to mold sampling in the indoor environment, beginning with air sampling for airborne mold levels indoors.
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The appropriateness of testing at all is discussed on this and other pages at
our website. Because mold test validity and mold test accuracy are often confused, readers should also see ACCURACY OF VARIOUS MOLD TEST METHODS. People who need to conduct mold inspection and testing indoors should see MOLD TEST PROCEDURES and TECHNICAL & LAB PROCEDURES.
Our MOLD INFORMATION CENTER includes more broad discussions of the overall approach to building investigation, as do many expert references cited at that web. For a more
comprehensive collection information about mold test methods see INDOOR AIR QUALITY METHODS COMPARED.
For more on "mold classes" (Cosmetic mold vs. allergenic mold vs. toxic or pathogenic mold) see MOLD CLASSES, HAZARD LEVELS and more references such as a Mold Action Guide are at the end of this document.
A Guide to Swab Sampling to Screen for Toxic Mold:
15th Annual North Carolina/South Carolina
Environmental Information Association Technical Conference
Myrtle Beach, SC
Daniel Friedman 23 September 2005
Swab samples can be used to pull particles for microscopic
exam but destroy the identifying conidiophores and hyphae; They are more often
used to prepare cultures which have the shortcoming cited above. We make use of
swabs to sample for bacteriological contamination.
A sterile swab is wiped across a sampled surface, the inserted into a
sterile tube for mailing to a lab.
Swabs are processed in one of two ways:
Direct examination: The lab
can lift particles from the swab using tape or other methods to make a
direct particle examination similar to tape sampling above.
Culturing: The lab rolls the
swab across a culture plate to culture the sample for identification.
Shortcomings of swab sampling for mold:
Direct microscopic examination of mold swab samples:
determination of species by direct examination is often difficult as the
collection method destroys or fails to collect identifying structures such
as conidiophores and hyphae. "Rubbing" and possibly even
"rolling" the swab on a surface to collect a sample will often
destroy key structural components (the conidiophores and hyphal details)
which would have been more easily preserved using adhesive tape.
Culturing from mold swab samples (or
from mold tape samples): risks misidentification of the dominant species present and may
completely miss species which are present due to choice of culture media
and growing conditions. See Shortcomings of culturing for details.
Mold test swabs used to collect
particles from insulation, fabric, upholstery, carpets, may fail to
collect representative material as they only touch surface particles.
Vacuuming such surfaces is more representative of what particles are
aerosolized by human activity in a building.
Swabs are very effective for use in testing for bacteriological
contamination testing but in our opinion they are of less use in fungal work.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be used to identify
individual genera/species with good accuracy and fairly quickly. The method
requires costly equipment and is not available at most laboratories. Perhaps
more important is that the data base of PCR identification information is
limited to a small set of species compared with the wide range of
genera/species which occur.
At least one excellent national laboratory offers
this service for mold speciation. Depending on how rapidly technology drives
down the cost and how rapidly the identification data base is expanded, we suspect that this method will see increased use.
The limitations of PCR as a mold identification tool
are currently two: first, it is quite costly to perform per sample, and second,
it is excellent at identifying the presence or absence of a specific mold
you're looking for. It is less useful as a broad spectrum scan expected to pop
up with a result of what's present out of the 1.5 million possible candidates -
of which only a few are yet even in the PCR database.
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Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.
Mark Cramer Inspection Services Mark Cramer, Tampa Florida, Mr. Cramer is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors and is a Florida home inspector and home inspection educator. (727) 595-4211 mark@BestTampaInspector.com
Craig Balchunas is an ASHI member, and a licensed New York home inspector and environmental and mold test inspector who previously practiced in Newburgh, NY.
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
Kansas State University, department of plant pathology, extension plant pathology web page on wheat rust fungus: see http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/path-ext/factSheets/Wheat/Wheat%20Leaf%20Rust.asp
"A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home",
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency US EPA - includes basic advice for building owners, occupants, and mold cleanup operations. See http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.htm
Allergen Tests in Buildings advice about how to test, what to look for, in evaluating the level of dog, cat, or other animal allergens in a building
"IgG Food Allergy Testing by ELISA/EIA, What do they really tell us?" Sheryl B. Miller, MT (ASCP), PhD, Clinical Laboratory Director, Bastyr University Natural Health Clinic - ELISA testing accuracy: Here is an example of Miller's critique of ELISA
http://www.betterhealthusa.com/public/282.cfm - Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
The critique included in that article raises compelling questions about IgG testing assays, which prompts our interest in actually screening for the presence of high levels of particles that could carry allergens - dog dander or cat dander in the case at hand.
http://www.tldp.com/issue/174/IgG%20Food%20Allergy.html contains similar criticism in another venue but interestingly by the same author, Sheryl Miller. Sheryl Miller, MT (ASCP), PhD, is an Immunologist and Associate Professor of Basic and Medical Sciences at Bastyr University in Bothell, Washington. She is also the Laboratory Director of the Bastyr Natural Health Clinic Laboratory.
Allergens: Testing for the level of exposure to animal allergens is discussed at http://www.animalhealthchannel.com/animalallergy/diagnosis.shtml (lab animal exposure study is interesting because it involves a higher exposure level in some cases
Allergens: WebMD discusses allergy tests for humans at webmd.com/allergies/allergy-tests
Animal Allergens: Dog, Cat, and Other Animal Dander - Cleanup & Prevention Information for Asthmatics and regarding Indoor Air Quality.
Recognizing Allergens: What various indoor allergens look like - identification photos to help identify pollen, dust mites, animal dander, toxic or allergenic mold - Common Mold and other Allergens, Irritants, Remedies & Advice
Rodent control issues, including dander, fecal, and urine contamination of Buildings and Building insulation are discussed at our
Associations: Sick House, Sick Building, SBS - Air Quality, Government, Private Associations and Information Resources
Atlas of Clinical Fungi, 2nd Ed., GS deHoog, J Guarro, J Gene, & MJ Figueras, Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, 2000, ISBN 90-70351-43-9 (you can buy this book at Amazon)
Atlas of Indoor Mold, Online Clinical Mold Atlas, Toxins, Pathogens, Allergens and Other Indoor Particles - Medical Health Effects of Mold (separate online document)
Black Mold that is Harmless Photos of recognizable, usually harmless black mold on wood, bluestain, ceratocystis, ophistoma
Building Floods: quick steps after a building flood or plumbing leak can prevent costly mold contamination
Classes of Mold: what types of cosmetic, allergenic, or toxic mold are a problem? Can mold be cleaned-up successfully?
"A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home", U.S. Environmental Protection Agency US EPA - includes basic advice for building owners, occupants, and mold cleanup operations. See http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.htm
"Disease Prevention Program for Certain Vegetable Crops," David B. Langston, Jr., Extension Plant Pathologist - Vegetables, University of Georgia (PDF document) original source: www.reeis.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/209797.html
"Disease Prevention in Home Vegetable Gardens,"
Patricia Donald,
Department of Plant Microbiology and Pathology,
Lewis Jett
Department of Horticulture, University of Missouri Extension - extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6202
Fifth Kingdom, Bryce Kendrick, ISBN13: 9781585100224, is available from the InspectAPedia online bookstore - we recommend the CD-ROM version of this book. This 3rd/edition is a compact but comprehensive encyclopedia of all things mycological. Every aspect of the fungi, from aflatoxin to zppspores, with an accessible blend of verve and wit. The 24 chapters are filled with up-to-date information of classification, yeast, lichens, spore dispersal, allergies, ecology, genetics, plant pathology, predatory fungi, biological control, mutualistic symbioses with animals and plants, fungi as food, food spoilage and mycotoxins.
OTHER IAQ ISSUES: How To Find and Address Other Indoor Air or Indoor Environment Contaminants Besides Mold
Mold or allergens may not be the only or even the main indoor environmental contaminant. Don't let media attention to mold
cause so much enviro-scare fear that other, possibly more urgent hazards go un-addressed.
Ozone Warnings - Use of Ozone as a "mold"
remedy is ineffective and may be dangerous.
Pet control - if you can't say goodbye to your bird, cat, dog, guinea pig, hamster, tropical fish, then limit the
areas they occupy and limit the airflow from that area to sleeping or other areas of the building, use allergenic
bedding, eliminate wall-to-wall carpeting, improve housecleaning including use of a HEPA-rated vacuum cleaner. For more details
see our article Dog, Cat, and Other Animal Dander - Information for Asthmatics and Indoor Air Quality
Rodents, Mice, Squirrel Control - I find high levels of mouse and rodent dander, fecal dust, and urine-contaminated dust in some buildings,
and high levels of these materials in building insulation in those locations. If you have a mouse problem, particularly if mice and their waste (fecals or urine) are contaminating
the building HVAC or building insulation, may need both steps to clean up or remove infected materials and steps to stop an ongoing
rodent problem. If squirrels are a problem, the cleanup needs to include closing off entry openings into the building. Get some
help from a licensed pest control expert.
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