The ERMI is an acronym for Environmental Relative Moldiness Index.
It was developed by scientists at the USEPA to provide a straightforward, objective, and standardized way to obtain results for indoor air quality investigations.
The EPA is developing an ERMI ranking system based on dust samples collected from homes across the U.S.
The ERMI will help predict the moldiness of homes. Homes with high ERMI values have a greater chance of having a mold problem then homes with a low ERMI.
36 different fungi make up the ERMI and are designated as Group I (those found in atypical, water damaged homes) and Group II (those commonly found in all homes):
What is the ARMI?
The ARMI is an acronym for American Relative Moldiness Index.
It was developed by EPA as more cost effective analytical method than the ERMI
It has been proven by EPA to have good correlation with the ERMI for predicting the moldiness of homes
13 different fungi make up the ARMI
- Found in ARMI water damaged buildings:
Chaetomium globosum
Eurotium (A.) amstalodami
Aspergillus restrictus
Penicillium chrysogenum
Aspergillus niger
Aspergillus ochraceus
Paecilomyces variotii
Aspergillus sydowii
Wallemia sebi
Aspergillus penicillioides - Molds Commonly Found in all Homes
Alternaria alternata
Cladosporium cladosporioides v1
What is MSQPCR?
MSQPCR is an acronym for Mold Specific Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction.
The ERMI value is determined using the MSQPCR method in the lab.
It was developed by scientists at the USEPA to detect and quantify fungi associated with indoor air quality problems.
It’s a FAST, ACCURATE, and SENSITIVE DNA-based analytical method for identifying and quantifying molds to the species level.
The method looks for the presence of DNA sequences that are unique to a particular mold species.
