Health Hazard Evaluation Report, HETA-1999-0014-3094, Springdale Best Western Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2009. Evaluation of Mold Contamination in a Hotel Before and After Remediation

摘要

On October 22, 1998, NIOSH received a request from the Springdale, Ohio, Health Department for technical assistance in evaluating worker exposures to mold at the Springdale Best Western Hotel. Since May 1998, guests and hotel employees had complained to hotel managers about water leakage and odors in guest rooms. Extensive fungal (mold) growth was found and, in October, the hotel was closed for renovation. A manager who had inspected contaminated areas and removed pieces of wallpaper was diagnosed with a lung disease consistent with hypersensitivity pneumonitis and thought to be caused by exposure to mold at the hotel. NIOSH investigators conducted several site visits in November 1998 to inspect the hotel and collect bulk samples of gypsum board, unit ventilator filters, and wallpaper; tape samples of wall surfaces; and air samples for culturable fungi and nonculturable fungal structures. NIOSH personnel returned to collect air samples in February 1999 (after tear-out), in April 1999 (after build-out), and in July 2000 (after re-occupancy). The NIOSH medical investigator surveyed exposed (those who worked in the mold-contaminated areas) and unexposed (those who worked only in the bar and restaurant area) employees, and obtained blood samples for a research test for antibodies to roridin, a mycotoxin produced by various fungi.