Video - I-Team: Mold, Mushroom Can Pose Big Apartment Problems

[Guest guest]

I-Team: Mold, Mushroom Can Pose Big Apartment Problems

KLAS-TV - Las Vegas,NV*

July 17, 2007 10:14 PM EDT

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6802430

It's a highly controversial issue, and it can affect everyone. Even

in this arid part of the country, mold can grow in your home. But

how big of a problem is it really and can the mold make you sick?

The answer is, even the experts can't come up with definitive answer

when it comes to molds. There is no test to link illness to indoor

molds, so while people report symptoms ranging from headaches, to

confusion, rashes, loss of appetite, and gastrointestinal problems --

those symptoms cover a lot of sicknesses and can't be directly

linked to mold exposure.

So a valley family didn't know what to do when they found something

pretty scary growing in their living room.

Tenisha Lee-Gunn and her husband Antwon couldn't believe

it. " Mushrooms. I never seen mushrooms before, ever in my life, "

said Antwon.

Tenisha added, " When I seen this, my reaction was I was cursing. I

was like what -- I have never seen. I was, I was going ballistic. "

Their television had shorted out. A puddle appeared on their carpet.

They called a maintenance man. Then, another shocker.

" He just stuck his hand into the wall and pulled it out, " they said.

One section of drywall was so wet, it simply melted in the

maintenance man's hands.

" If we would have touched that wall before we even called him. It

would have fell in. It just, all the white stuff started coming out.

It was all wet like mud type, " they both said, talking over each

other.

Behind the wall, a leaking pipe. Water had been running into their

floor for at least a week.

" That's actually where mold was at, " said Antwon. He said

maintenance workers scraped away the mushrooms. They cut out the

carpet pad. They shampooed the carpet. Then they sprayed sanitizer,

but Antwon started having trouble breathing.

" The guy from poison control told me that they just can't do that, "

said Tenisha. " There's no way something like that happens, and you

just shampoo the carpet spray some stuff and think your done with

it. He told me you need to have them move you out of there, and they

need to quarantine that apartment. "

Allergy doctor Victor Cohen knows mold. " It's a hygiene issue and

should be repaired and fixed. But just the presence of mold doesn't

necessarily automatically translate to you being sick, " he said.

He's an expert witness for mold law suits. " The problem is there is

a certain degree of hysteria associated with this problem. "

He says there are four molds that typically show up in valley homes.

One is the controversial black mold. " Stachybotrys is what most

people think of as black mold. And that's what gets everyone's

dander up. "

Dr. Cohen says in general, mold isn't hazardous to your

health. " It's in every breath you take. It's everywhere all the

time. "

The danger emerges when mold releases spores carrying toxins. But,

he says, with indoor molds that rarely happens. " The literature

would suggest that most molds, even those that can produce toxins,

don't. "

Indoor molds can make allergies flair up and make it difficult for

those with asthma to breathe. But indoor molds won't cause permanent

damage. And mushrooms in the floor won't make you sick either.

But the Gunns didn't take any chances. They took their kids and

moved out. The two youngsters both have asthma. The Gunns moved out

of the apartment and went to a doctor. The children were put on

antibiotics and a nebulizer. They are doing much better.

Dr. Cohen says typically, once a leak is fixed and the mold is

cleaned up, any symptoms disappear in about three weeks. However, he

adds, people with suppressed immune systems are at risk of serious

infections.

What's the best way to clean up mold? Dr. Cohen says that for large

mold problems, you might want to call a remediation service.

The Centers for Disease Control say in most cases a simple bleach

solution does the job.

Email your comments to Investigative Reporter Adrienne Augustus.

[Guest guest]

> " The problem is there is a certain degree of hysteria

>associated with this problem. "

I'd like to take this expert in the basement of the building across

the street and lock him up there for 24 hours or so, so he can bathe

in nice natural Stachy " that we breathe with each breath anyway " .

I'd just love to ask him about this hysteria, hype and dander after

that. ;>

[Guest guest]

Okay, lets approach this with the concept of " sound science " in mind..

______cut here_______

1: Indoor Air. 2004 Jun;14(3):196-9.Related Articles, Links

Wall relative humidity: a simple and reliable index for predicting

Stachybotrys chartarum infestation in dwellings.

Boutin-Forzano S, Charpin-Kadouch C, Chabbi S, Bennedjai N, Dumon H, Charpin D.

Department of Chest Diseases and Allergy, Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France.

Because the indoor mold Stachybotrys chartarum has been considered as

potentially responsible for serious health effects, its identification

in dwellings with water damages is of utmost importance. As such

dwellings are many, it would be of great value to have a simple and

reliable index for predicting its presence. The aim of the study was

to compare measurements of wall relative humidity (RH) to mold

identification in 458 samples from 100 dwellings. Mold identification

was performed by direct microscopic examination of a sample collected

on the wall by the gummed paper technique. Mean (+/- s.d.) wall RH (%)

was much higher (97.0 +/- 6.1) on the 30 samples where S. chartarum

was identified compared with the 291 samples where other molds were

identified (41.8 +/- 36.9) and to the 137 samples where no molds were

identified (38.9 +/- 34.8). There was no straightforward relationship

between wall and room RH. In conclusion, this study clearly

demonstrate that the simple measurement of wall RH can be used as a

reliable index for discarding and suspecting S. chartarum infestation

in dwellings. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This paper suggests that very

high relative humidity (RH) within walls is a strong risk factor for

their infestation with the 'toxic mold' Stachybotrys chartarum.

Besides, data from the literature demonstrate that other molds are

able to produce mycotoxins when RH is very high. Thus, measurement of

wall RH, which is easy to perform and very cheap, could be used as a

screening tool to select those dwellings where mold identification

should be performed and remediation should be promptly carried out.

Publication Types:

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 15104787 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

_________

Also see this

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=1034700\

0

PDF available here - This is worth grabbing because it describes the

problems with mycotoxin production at high humidity with typical

building materials.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1566214 & blobtype=pdf

_______

Environ Health Perspect. 1999 Jun;107 Suppl 3:505-8.

Microfungal contamination of damp buildings--examples of risk

constructions and risk materials.

Gravesen S, Nielsen PA, Iversen R, Nielsen KF.

Energy and Indoor Climate Division, Danish Building Research

Institute, Horsholm, Denmark. sug@...

To elucidate problems with microfungal infestation in indoor

environments, a multidisciplinary collaborative pilot study, supported

by a grant from the Danish Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, was

performed on 72 mold-infected building materials from 23 buildings.

Water leakage through roofs, rising damp, and defective plumbing

installations were the main reasons for water damage with subsequent

infestation of molds. From a score system assessing the

bioavailability of the building materials, products most vulnerable to

mold attacks were water damaged, aged organic materials containing

cellulose, such as wooden materials, jute, wallpaper, and cardboard.

The microfungal genera most frequently encountered were Penicillium

(68%), Aspergillus (56%), Chaetomium (22%), Ulocladium, (21%),

Stachybotrys (19%) and Cladosporium (15%). Penicillium chrysogenum,

Aspergillus versicolor, and Stachybotrys chartarum were the most

frequently occurring species. Under field conditions, several

trichothecenes were detected in each of three commonly used building

materials, heavily contaminated with S. chartarum. Under experimental

conditions, four out of five isolates of S. chartarum produced

satratoxin H and G when growing on new and old, very humid gypsum

boards. A. versicolor produced the carcinogenic mycotoxin

sterigmatocystin and 5-methoxysterigmatocystin under the same

conditions.

PMID: 10347000 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

_____end articles_____

____contrast that with this_____

> Dr. Cohen says in general, mold isn't hazardous to your

> health. " It's in every breath you take. It's everywhere all the

> time. "

>

> The danger emerges when mold releases spores carrying toxins. But,

> he says, with indoor molds that rarely happens. " The literature

> would suggest that most molds, even those that can produce toxins,

> don't. "

>

> Indoor molds can make allergies flair up and make it difficult for

> those with asthma to breathe. But indoor molds won't cause permanent

> damage. And mushrooms in the floor won't make you sick either.

>

> But the Gunns didn't take any chances. They took their kids and

> moved out. The two youngsters both have asthma. The Gunns moved out

> of the apartment and went to a doctor. The children were put on

> antibiotics and a nebulizer. They are doing much better.

>

> Dr. Cohen says typically, once a leak is fixed and the mold is

> cleaned up, any symptoms disappear in about three weeks. However, he

> adds, people with suppressed immune systems are at risk of serious

> infections.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Branislav,

I would like to take him and all the others that say the same thing and put

them in that basement-