This questionnaire looks for patterns that may be relevant to health effects associated with damp or mould-affected buildings. It considers the exposure itself, whether symptoms change with the environment, respiratory and allergic symptoms, a multisystem symptom pattern described in the Shoemaker CIRS framework, and whether a pre-existing condition may have worsened.
It is a screening tool, not a diagnostic test. A high score does not prove that mould is the cause of symptoms or establish a diagnosis of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). Many of the symptoms included are non-specific and can occur in other medical conditions.
You reported cough or breathlessness with fever, chills or a flu-like feeling associated with exposure. This pattern can occur with respiratory conditions that require conventional medical investigation, including hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
Damp and mould-affected buildings are associated most consistently with respiratory symptoms, allergic disease and asthma. A multisystem symptom pattern may justify further assessment, but symptoms such as fatigue, cognitive difficulty, dizziness, pain and gastrointestinal symptoms are not specific to mould exposure.
The Shoemaker cluster score shown here reports similarity to that clinical framework only. It does not diagnose CIRS, prove exposure to mycotoxins or establish that mould is the cause of illness.
Privacy: this version calculates your result in your browser. It does not send or store your answers.
This screening approach gives greater weight to exposure history, symptom changes with the environment, and respiratory/allergic effects because these have stronger established evidence in damp indoor environments. The Shoemaker symptom clusters are included as a separate framework-specific screen and are not presented as a validated stand-alone diagnostic test.
