EM217 Dust: Actinomycetes

Dust Swiffer testing comprises tests for assessing environmental exposure to key moulds and metabolites.

The most frequent species of bacteria found in buildings damaged by water are Actinomycetes. This is a type of bacteria that produces biotoxins similar to mycotoxin in the mold. In general, the biotoxins of bacteria by weight and mass are much more important, for example, than mycotoxins. The test is based on the microbial identification of all bacteria in the sample. The Actino test was developed by selecting the 40 main species of Actino in the sample to create a score for Building-related Disease (BRI) situation.