Lab report: 15 mold types in Dial

By Andrea Vukcevic
Features Editor

A statistical analysis of airborne and growing mold in the Dial Humanities building confirmed the presence of 15 identifiable types, including the potentially toxic stachybotrys chartarum spore, also known as “black mold.”

According to campus fungi expert Dr. Bonnie Kelley, the most significant finding was a concentration of 7,000 stachybotrys spores per cubic meter in the air in Dr. Frank Trapp’s office, room 248. Of eight wall swabs throughout Dial, all were found to contain stachybotrys and five were deemed “loaded” – showing greater than 100 spores on the prep. Nine of 12 air samples found this particular spore in the air.

“No wonder they closed [Dial] down,” said Kelley, a professor in the Biology department. “Even low amounts of stachybotrys are of concern.”

Pronounced “stay-ki-bot-ris,” the mold has been linked to - but not proven to cause - acute idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage among infants, causing bleeding of the lungs and death.

“There was more than enough [evidence] to justify shutting down that building,” said Kelley.

It is a mystery why the spore count was so high in Dr. Trapp’s office.

“Stachybotrys must have been carried in on someone’s clothes,” Kelley said. “That means it is growing in someone’s home out there.”

She said the reason it was found in the building’s air was because it had recently been disturbed.
“It could have been introduced long ago, established itself in the walls and spread from there,” she said.

According to the Center for Disease Control website, molds naturally grow indoors and places where there is excessive moisture. Spores may enter buildings through open doorways, windows, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The most common indoor molds are cladosporium, penicillium, aspergillus and alternaria. All four were found in the Dial building. While stachybotrys is less common in buildings and homes, it is not rare.

A control sample of the air outside the building showed no trace of stachybotrys but found many aspergillus/penicillium and cladosporium spores, among eleven other types. Outdoor air samples are particularly subject to variation due to weather.

Rooms with high levels of common molds included Dr. Bruce DeHart’s office (room 208), workroom 106 and the hall outside classroom 221.

Tests were performed by EMSL Analytical, Inc. of Kernersville, N.C. on Oct. 14.

The Education building, Lumbee Hall and the library have been inspected as part of an estimated $116,000 campus-wide testing for mold. All remaining buildings will follow and should be completed by the end of February 2004.