Re: Re: Cleaning Stuff....

[Guest guest]

Do you mean for household cleaning, in a non-moldy environment, or are

you talking about items that have been contaminated by mold?

Mold contaminated items, you might deal with differently if they were

directly contaminated (i.e. eaten by mold) or coated with moldy

film..but not mold-eaten.

In general, seriously contaminated stuff is hard to clean unless its

metal or glass. Porous things should be thrown away if they are

heavily contaminated. Clothes can be washed with a strong bleach and

soap, then rinsed completely, and dried in the sun, then tested to see

if they still make you react. (Some mold contaminations are stronger

than others.)

Even nonporous plastic is difficult to clean effectively..

Dr. Straus's group at Texas Tech have written about techniques for

cleaning mold contaminated home contents.. they actually tested for

mycotoxins afterward..

The link has been posted here many times..

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15238314

J Occup Environ Hyg. 2004 Jul;1(7):442-7.

An investigation into techniques for cleaning mold-contaminated

home contents.

SC, Brasel TL, Carriker CG, Fortenberry GD, Fogle MR,

JM, Wu C, Andriychuk LA, Karunasena E, Straus DC.

Center for Indoor Air Research, Department of Microbiology and

Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock,

Texas 79430, USA. .@...

This study examined the efficacy of the following treatments to

reduce selected fungal spore and mycotoxin levels on materials

commonly found in home contents: (1) gamma irradiation at a 10-13

kiloGray exposure, (2) a detergent/bleach wash, and (3) a steam

cleaning technique. A minimum of six replicates were performed per

treatment. Paper, cloth, wood, and carpet were inoculated with either

fungal spores (Stachybotrys chartarum, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium

chrysogenum, or Chaetomium globosum) at 240,000 spores/2.54 cm2 of

material or with the mycotoxins roridin A, T-2, and verrucarin A at 10

microg per 2.54 cm2 of material. Treatments were evaluated with an

agar plating technique for fungal spores and a yeast toxicity culture

assay for mycotoxins. Results showed that gamma irradiation

inactivated fungal spores, but the treatment was not successful in

inactivating mycotoxins. The washing technique completely inactivated

or removed spores on all materials except for C. globosum, which was

reduced on all items except paper (p < 0.05). Washing inactivated all

mycotoxins on paper and cloth but not on carpet or untreated wood (p <

0.001). The steam cleaning treatment did not completely eliminate any

fungal spores; however, it reduced P. chrysogenum numbers on all

materials, C. globosum was reduced on wood and carpet, and S.

chartarum was reduced on wood (p < 0.05). Steam cleaning was

unsuccessful in inactivating any of the tested mycotoxins. These

results show that the bleach/detergent washing technique was more

effective overall in reducing spore and mycotoxin levels than gamma

irradiation or steam cleaning. However, the other examined techniques

were successful in varying degrees. Copyright 2004 JOEH, LLC

PMID: 15238314 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]