Existence of toxic mold syndrome questioned

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I don't remember seeing reference to this article. Sorry if it is a repeat:

" Existence of toxic mold syndrome questioned "

Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:35 PM BST

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews & storyID=2005-10\

-14T193343Z_01_EIC470430_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-TOXIC-MOLD-DC.XML

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mold and dampness can cause coughing and wheezing,

but there is little evidence to support the existence of the so-called toxic

mold syndrome, according to a report by researchers at the Oregon Health

Sciences University in Portland.

Toxic mold syndrome -- illnesses caused specifically by exposure to mold --

continues to cause public concern despite a lack of evidence that supports its

existence, researchers explain in the September issue of the ls of Allergy,

Asthma & Immunology. Several critical reviews have failed to find scientific

support for toxic effects from breathing in mold spores as a viable mechanism of

human disease, they add.

Dr. Barzin Khalili and Dr. Emil J. Bardana, Jr. describe the clinical

characteristics of 50 patients with complaints of illness they attributed to

mold exposure in their home or workplace. The patients had been referred by a

defense attorney in a civil litigation or by insurance adjusters representing

worker's compensation agencies.

There was no consistent set of symptoms, the authors report, with patients

having an average of more than eight symptoms. Most patients reported a family

or personal history of allergy or asthma.

Three quarters of the patients had abnormal physical examination results, the

researchers note, with inflammation of the eye or skin and congestion occurring

most commonly.

Thirty patients had other non-mold-related illnesses that could explain most, if

not all, of their mold-related complaints, the report indicates, and nearly two

thirds of the individuals had evidence of a previously diagnosed mood disorder.

" In fact, " the investigators write, " when the entire history and objective

evidence were scrutinized, a number of well-established and plausible diagnoses

emerged that explained many, if not all, the complaints. "

In a commentary in the journal, Dr. Abba I. Terr from UCSF Medical Center, San

Francisco contends that toxic mold disease is " the latest in a series of

environmentally related pseudo-illnesses " that include multiple chemical

sensitivity, also known as idiopathic environmental intolerance, and chronic

fatigue syndrome, which was attributed at one time to infection with

Epstein-Barr virus.

" Since these authors have determined that the patients they describe do not have

a mold-related disease but are nevertheless seeking compensation for presumed

illness through a legal process that has defined it in those terms, toxic mold

disease is truly a diagnosis of litigation, " Terr concludes.

SOURCE: ls of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, September 2005.