Research Symposium

BIO

My career goal for as long as I can remember has been to become a physician. I have always found satisfaction in serving others for the betterment of my community. Over the past two years I have worked as a public adjuster to access the damages of affected homes. Living in Florida, the majority of damages I am familiar seeing, are mold growth cases due to heavy rainfall or flooding. This research project aligns with my career goals perfectly by combining my knowledge on mold growth to my interests in human health. My aim for all future research projects, is to find answers in attempt to improve wellness in public health.

A review of flood impacts on human respiratory health

Abstract

It is known that natural disasters such as flash floods can leave long lasting effects on buildings such as loose flooring, foundation cracks, “weak points” and premature roof failure. However, the human respiratory complications due to flooding and mold growth remain unstudied. A range of floods—small (nuisance) to extreme—can negatively affect human respiratory health, but extreme events like hurricanes often receive the sole attention. In this research, past studies related to floods, mold growth and respiratory health issues, were collected using a search relevance method and categorized to further analyze the dangers of persistent mold growth. The findings of these studies were then further analyzed to detect correlations between the effects of flooding on respiratory health. We also evaluated the trend of research on this topic over time and the geographic locations of past research. Our results showed that: (1) large floods like hurricanes have been the sole focus of past research; (2) there has been a growing interest in this research area over the past five years; and (3) Europe and North America have been the center of research on the impact of floods on the human respiratory health, while other parts of the world have not studied this research. The data collected will give us knowledge on how to address these trends to take progressive action in the remediation of affected homes and avoid negative respiratory health effects. We provided directions for the future research on flood impacts on human respiratory health.

Keywords: Flood* , Mold or Fungi , Health , Water Intrusion