Increased prevalence of indoor <i>Aspergillus</i> and <i>Penicillium</i> species is associated with indoor flooding and coastal proximity: a case study of 28 moldy buildings
Mayomi H. Omebeyinje, Adewale Adeluyi, Chandrani Mitra, Paramita Chakraborty, Gregory M. Gandee, Nalit Patel, Bindhu Verghese, Christine E. Farrance, Matthew S. Hull, Paramita Basu, Kwonmoo Lee, Atin Adhikari, Burcu Adıvar, Jennifer A. Horney, Anindya Chanda
Abstract
non-residential). Culturable spores and hyphal fragments in indoor air were collected using the settle-plate method, and corresponding genera were confirmed using phylogenetic analysis of their ITS sequence (the fungal barcode). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Generalized linear model procedure (GLM) showed that Asp-Pen prevalence is significantly associated with indoor flooding as well as coastal proximity. To address the small sample size, a multivariate decision tree analysis was conducted, which ranked indoor flooding history as the strongest determinant of Asp-Pen prevalence, followed by geographical location and the building's use.