Are medical tests available to distinguish mould health problems?
Currently available routine tests can only identify allergies to fewer than ten of the hundreds of moulds that may grow indoors. Building occupants may have mould allergies that a doctor cannot accurately diagnose using existing allergy tests. When an allergy test does identify a person as being allergic to a mould, the test cannot determine where or when that person was most recently exposed to the mould causing the reaction. Similarly, there is no blood, urine, or other medical test that can determine whether someone has been exposed to a mould toxin. Researchers and laboratories are working to develop such tests, but none have been shown to be accurate. People encounter high levels of airborne mould spores in many placesfor example, when gardening, mowing lawns, playing outdoor sports, hiking, camping, or simply living in their homes. Isolating the effects of these exposures from workplace exposures can be very difficult. How are moulds identified? Owners of buildings that may be mo
