Moldy mushroom factory kills firefighter

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Moldy mushroom factory kills firefighter in Niigata

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20041224p2a00m0dm011000c.html

NIIGATA -- A fire brigade member has become the first person to die

as a result of volunteer activities in quake-hit areas of Niigata

Prefecture, prefectural government officials said Friday.

Takao Morohashi, 41, a member of a fire brigade in Myokokogen, died

Friday morning of pneumonia believed to have been caused by

inhalation of mold.

Morihashi worked at a mushroom processing factory in Kawaguchi as a

volunteer on Nov. 9 and 10, the Niigata Prefectural Government

officials said. He was hospitalized on Nov. 17 after showing

symptoms of breathing difficulties and high fever.

Doctors diagnosed him as suffering from pneumonia caused by the

inhalation of dust containing mold and bacteria. He died Friday

morning at the hospital.

Twelve people who worked at the factory complained of illness and

five of them including Morohashi were hospitalized. (Mainichi

Shimbun, Japan, Dec. 24, 2004)

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