AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Estimating Lung Deposition Fraction of Mold Spores with the ICRP and BAIL Models
JESSICA SAGONA, Leonardo Calderón, Zuocheng Wang, Jennifer Senick, MaryAnn Sorensen-Allacci, Richard Wener, Clinton J. Andrews, Gediminas Mainelis, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Abstract Number: 477 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Inhalation exposure to mold spores is associated with negative health effects, such as allergies and asthma. The location of spore deposition in the airways is especially important, as it largely defines health effects. To better understand the health risks associated with exposures to mold, we applied different lung deposition models to calculate lung deposition fraction of spores that were commonly seen in our recent investigation of indoor air quality in a multi-apartment residential green building in the Northeastern US. Samples were taken in 16 apartments in three separate sampling campaigns during different seasons. We compare the ICRP (International Commission on Radiation Protection) model with the Bioaerosol Adaptation of ICRP’s Lung-deposition model, or BAIL, which includes specific adjustments for bioaerosols.
Aspergillus (spherical, diameter of 3 microns), Cladosporium (diameter of 5 microns), Physarum (Myxomycetes class, diameter of 10 microns), Ascospores (~15 x 7 microns), and Basidiospores (~3 x 2 microns) species were ubiquitous in the collected samples. Our results show that, for sitting adults, the BAIL model calculates 75 to 91% higher deposition in the tracheobronchial region for the larger spores (Physarum and Ascospores) compared to the ICRP model and 62 to 99% higher deposition in the alveolar region, for the smallest spores (Aspergillus, Basidiospores, and Cladosporium) compared to the ICRP model. Total deposition is calculated to be 1 to 19% higher in the ICRP model than in the BAIL model among all five species. The data from the models suggest that calculation of deposition location is highly dependent on particle size, and that the estimate of mold-associated health risks, especially mold penetration into the alveoli, highly depends on a particular model, thus indicating the need to improve our ability to assess risks due to environmental exposures.