Can Rats, Chemical Odors, Or Even Stress, Cause Mold Like Health Reactions In Homeowners And Office Workers?

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Article Title:

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Can Rats, Chemical Odors, Or Even Stress, Cause Mold Like Health Reactions In

Homeowners And Office Workers?

Article Description:

====================

Mold is and always has been a major contributor in building

related illness. I have seen many clients who were ill as the

result of living with mold. However, one must not overlook the

possibility of other contributing factors such as cigarette

smoke, non mold related bio-allergens such as cat and dog dander,

rat and mice allergens, and chemical contaminates such as

pesticides or volatile organic compounds.

Additional Article Information:

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1564 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: 2007-06-26 11:00:00

Written By: Daryl Watters

Copyright: 2007

Contact Email: mailto:daryl.watters@...

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Can Rats, Chemical Odors, Or Even Stress, Cause Mold Like Health Reactions In

Homeowners And Office Workers?

Copyright © 2007 Daryl Watters

A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc.

http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us

Mold is and always has been a major contributor in building

related illness. I have seen many clients who were ill as the

result of living with mold. However, one must not overlook the

possibility of other contributing factors such as cigarette

smoke, non mold related bio-allergens such as cat and dog dander,

rat and mice allergens, and chemical contaminates such as

pesticides or volatile organic compounds. Sometimes the culprit

is stress or psychosomatic illness, when the latter is expected

the investigator must find some tactful way to encourage the

client to see a doctor who can help determine if that client is

under to much stress.

In many cases homes have no unusual mold conditions but have roof

rat infestation (Ratus Ratus) in the attic. This is more common

in the South especially in Florida. Rat infested attics often

goes unnoticed for years while the occupant suffers. Poorly

maintained AC units with damaged AC ducts or loose fitting panels

causes rodent odors and allergens in the attic to be sucked into

the building where the client may or may not notice a mild dusty

or woody or attic odor. This is not uncommon and it is

unfortunate how often it goes un diagnosed by short sighted AC

service persons looking for proper temperatures at the AC unit or

and short sighted mold inspectors looking for mold only.

I have seen more than one case where occupants have been sick for

years, after extensive testing and inspection for mold in the

building I enter the attic to literally find thousands of rat

droppings, rat trails, rat urine stains, and even cute little rat

foot prints in the dust on top of AC ducts in the attic.

Other times chemicals are present such as sewage gas. If your

roofer replaced the roof but did not vent the plumbing vent pipes

through the roof then sewage gas (hydrogen Sulfide) will build up

in your attic and eventually back up into your home or office. I

discovered this exact problem at a bank in the Florida keys. This

bank had an attic and that attic was full of hydrogen sulfide

gas. The builder who should have been able to figure this one out

did not figure it out and instructed the bank employees to light

scented candles, by the way this gas is explosive, and

fortunately the bank did not explode.

At a beautiful house own by an interior designer in or near Miami

Florida the client was concerned about unusual odors, mild mold

odors were coming out of the AC ducts and also she had 3 or 4 AC

units in a house that only required one AC unit, thus the AC

units were cooling the air before they had a chance to dry the

air thus this created a humidity problem that in turn resulted in

humidity in her AC ducts and mild mold odors coming from her

ducts.

Even with mild mold odors in the ducts her real problem was not

mold at all. Testing the air for gases with something called a

to-15 canister revealed a veritable cornucopia of at least a

dozen or more gasoline ingredients including benzene a

carcinogen. After much effort with a hammer we were able to open

the tightly sealed crawl space door where strong fumes poured

out.

Apparently someone had dumped large amounts of gas into the crawl

space nailed the crawl space door shut and sold the property to

the interior designer who had purchased the house a few months

before my inspection.

At another property spots that the client feared were mold turned

out to be stains from a bad paint job. When obtaining an inner

wall sample a strong pesticide odor came out of the wall. It

appears that the landlord may have used too much pesticide in the

wall prior the tenet moving in a few months earlier. The client

was mildly obsessed with a fear of mold despite the fact that to

most observers the spots did not look like mold.

Strangely enough this client admitted that she was a bit mentally

ill. It seemed strange that she admitted this. Many people

experiences at least a tiny bit of mental illness at some point.

Stress, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorders, and

paranoia effects one out of X number of people in America at some

point in their lives. I say X because I am not a therapist but a

mold inspector, so I do not know the actual number. After your

read this article go to some therapist's websites, do a little

research and I am sure you will find out X is a high number.

Sometimes it becomes apparent that their is a strong likelihood

that clients are not suffering from mold allergies or any other

indoor pollutants, but from possible psychosomatic illness or

stress. Often these persons are under stress and also these

persons read large amounts of mold information written by fear

mongers who are not scientists and who do not perform mold

inspections.

Other unfortunate clients get ridiculous information from persons

claiming to be doctors. Yes their are doctors out their who like

sharks detect stress, and emotional instability in patients and

instead of trying to help them they encourage the patients down

this path so that the doctor can get more visits and more money

from persons who fear that mold is making them sick when it is

just fear, stress, overwork, unhappiness at home, mold obsession,

or cigarettes making them sick.

I have seen more than my fare share of previous stressed out

people with tons of mold website information on the dining room

table and no mold in their homes. One thing these people have in

common is that their symptoms are more like unusual symptoms in

the articles they read as apposed to more common mold symptoms

coughing, sneezing, itchy throat, watery eyes.

Stress has long been recognized as a contributor of building

related illness. But in 2006, recent studies from London and

Singapore point to the possibility that stress is a much more

important contributor to building related illness than most

investigators realized.

The following is from a Green Building Press Article.

According to researchers in London and Singapore, sick building

syndrome may be a stress related disorder, rather than a fault of

building design. UK researchers asked 4,000 civil servants from

44 buildings in London about their environment and job pressures

and about symptoms such as coughs and tiredness. They found dry

air and hot offices increased symptoms slightly but the most

important factor was stress.

The research is printed in Occupational and Environmental

Medicine journal. A similar study by the Singapore Ministry of

the Environment produced similar findings.

The London researchers argue that many of the symptoms, such as

headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, and unusual tiredness

could be linked to work-related stress, rather than something

wrong with the environment in the building.

The study found high job demands and low levels of support were

linked with high symptom rates, especially for those with little

decision-making power.

They used outside observers to assess civil servants' physical

work environment by measuring factors such as temperature and

light. The volunteers were also asked if they had any physical

symptoms and about the demands of their job, including levels of

support at work. Some 14% of men and 19% of women reported five

or more symptoms associated with the syndrome.

The team found higher levels of symptoms in buildings with

temperatures outside the recommended range, poor humidity,

airborne bacteria and dust. But lower levels of symptoms were

reported in buildings with poor air circulation, or unacceptable

levels of carbon dioxide, noise or volatile organic compounds.

Workers who could control their immediate environment by turning

down heating or opening windows also reported fewer symptoms.

The study authors said: " Sick building syndrome may be wrongly

named - raised symptoms reporting appears to be due less to poor

physical conditions than to a working environment characterized

by poor psychosocial conditions. " Our findings suggest that, in

this sample of office based workers, physical attributes of

buildings have a small influence on symptoms. "

Co-author Dr Mai Stafford of the Epidemiology and Public Health

department of University College London, said: " We are not

making claims that buildings don't matter. There certainly could

be buildings which do have physical properties that are very bad,

but for the general workforce job stress and job demands seem to

have a bigger impact " .

The Singapore study examined the role of work-related

psychosocial stress in sick building syndrome and tested the

theory that in buildings with no recognized environmental

problems, health complaints typical of the syndrome were

primarily stress-related.

Data was gathered from confidential questionnaires to assess

symptoms and perception of the physical and psychosocial

environment among 2160 subjects in 67 offices. Working conditions

were also inspected and indoor air quality monitored.

Researchers found more symptoms of sick building syndrome among

office workers who reported high levels of physical and mental

stress and decreasing climate of cooperation. This association

was sustained even after adjustment for personal and

environmental exposure factors.

They concluded that stress was a significant and independent

determinant of the health complaints, and that symptoms

compatible with the sick building syndrome in many cases were

stress-related, commenting, " Our findings underscore the

importance of personal and organizational stress management to

prevent ill health at the office " .

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Daryl Watters has a bachelors degree in education for teaching biology

and general science and is a certified mold inspector, certified home

inspector, and certified indoor environmentalist providing building

inspections in South Florida since 1993. For more information visit

http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com