A Review of the Role of Indoor Fungi in Sick Building Syndrome

Abstract

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a group of non-specific symptoms associated with the built environment, including mucosal symptoms in the eyes, nose, throat, and skin, and general symptoms such as headache and fatigue. Currently, more attention has been paid to the impact of buildings on the health and well-being of occupants, so SBS has become a global concern. Indoor microbial agents such as fungi are important in causing this syndrome. Fungi are eukaryotic microorganisms that occur in indoor air. Among the fungi, Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Stachybotrys, and Penicillium have a significant role in causing SBS. Fungi can contribute to this syndrome in different ways. Thus, this review article attempts to investigate the role of fungi and how to intervene in these microorganisms in SBS. To this end, keywords such as: "air," "indoor," "fungi," and "sick building syndrome" were searched. Articles published in scientific databases, such as Google Scholar, PubMed/MEDLINE, Elsevier, and Scopus were used.