Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) and the American Relative Moldiness Index (ARMI) Testing Information

What is the ERMI?

• 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 and are designated a Group 1 (found in atypical, water damaged homes) and Group 11 (commonly found in all homes). The fungi for the ARMI are boldfaced below.

Group I - Stachybotrys chartarum, Chaetomium globosum, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Aspergillus versicolor, Eurotium (A.) amstalodami, Penicillium variabile, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus restrictus, Penicillium crustosum, Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus sclerotiorum, Penicillium purpurogenum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium corylophilum, Aureobasidium pullulans, Aspergillus ochraceus, Penicillium brevicompactum, Paecilomyces variotii, Aspergillus sydowii, Penicillium spinulosum, Wallemia sebi, Aspergillus unguis, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, Scopulariopsis chartarum, Aspergillus penicillioides, Trichoderma viride

Group II - Acremonium strictum, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus ustus, Cladosporium cladosporioides v1, Cladosporium cladosporioides v2, Cladosporium herbarum, Epicoccum nigrum, Mucor & Rhizopus group, Penicillium chrysogenum, Rhizopus stolonifer

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.