Re: Re: Mold Testing - labs & methods RESULTS

[Guest guest]

I say both have contributed to the decline. The apartment is obviously more

contaminated than the office. However, the presence of certain species that are

known mycotoxins producers concerns me: A. flavus/oryzae, fumigatus, ochraceus,

restrictus, versicolor, C. globosum, P. chrysogenum, purpurogenum, A.

amstelodami, T. viride & Stachybotrys, among others.

I also highly recommend that you have testing done for Gram negative and

positive bacteria. These can produce enterotoxins and exotoxins. The Gram

negative also release endotoxins which are known synergist with trichothecenes

and aflatoxin B1.

[] Re: Mold Testing - labs & methods RESULTS

Just got the Results from mycometrics. I believe they tested for 39 species

via MSQPCR from dust samples.

Please comment. Is there a link to explain how I can interpret those results?

I'm trying to figure out which of the 2, if any, is most likely to have

contributed to the decline in my health status.

former office

http://www.mediafire.com/?iwctvolx4vs97gr

current appartment

http://www.mediafire.com/?7liuoap316887ih

[Guest guest]

From an indoor environmental evaluation point of view there's not

enough information to concluded much more than comparisons

of the " numbers " reported for each species on each sample by

itself.

There are several different ways to interpret the data. Below is

information about what additional information is needed to select

which way is most likely to be useful.

To answer those questions I need other information. My

questions are different from, and in addition, to Dr Thrasher's

toxicology point of view. I'm an indoor environmental consultant

so my questions are along the line of what is sampled, what was

the question the sampling is answering, was the sampling and

analysis method appropriate to the question, is the sample

representative of the overall situation or just to a specific micro-

environment. Was the mold sampled from a location which

results in exposure to the person? Under what conditions?

I'll can have more later but right now my first response is these

samples were not collected from similar environments. Dr

Thrasher mentioned an apartment and an office but I don't see

that information on the lab reports. Regardless, the types and

levels of the various species in each sample are reflective of

unsimilar locations - with the exception that Aureobasidium

pullulans dominates both samples. Which is unusual.

So my first question is what is similar to both locations that A.

pullulans would dominate both? Conversely, what is different in

the sample where it is only 48% rather than 75%? And why would

the next highest percentage be Aspergillus flavus/oryzae and not

something else, like Stachybotrys, in one of the samples but not

the other? (29.0% vs 00.0%)

The next question involves levels of exposure. The knowledge of

presence is insufficient to determine if this is what you are

exposed to (actually breathing or touching) over time. If not

exposed then there is no reaction to that particular location.

Although some of the percentages are quite high, is 74% of 6,900

a higher or lower exposure than 48% of 200,000?

Were either of these taken from air conditioning drip pans or

surrounding areas? Otherwise it would be unusual for the

dominant spores and fragments common to this type of

environment to become airborne, thus little to no exposure. Also,

this species is not known for production of mycotoxins. So if

mycotoxins are contributing to your decline in health I'd conclude

some of the minor growth molds are producing a lot of potent

toxins.

If this is not the organism of concern then any of the extremely

low percentage species may be suspect. How to figure that out?

We must be very careful about interpreting the numbers.

Especially the " spore equivalent " quantity. That is a rough

approximation of what the number might be if only intact spores

were present, which is not the case. It is not a real quantity and

cannot be reliably compared.

The footnote on " spore equivalent " says this unit of measure is

used " per sample " when the " area " isn't known. So were the

samples collected from 1 sq in or 1 sq ft or 100 sq ft? Was the

area for each sample the same or significantly different? That

information is critical to zero in on what is going on and the

likelyhood there is enough to significantly affect you.

Finally, what does this mean to you and your concerns about your

decline in health status? What are your health indicators and can

they be associated with mold exposure? Gram positive and gram

negative bacteria may be the culprit, as Dr Thrasher points out.

Are any of the species actually generating mycotoxins or do they

sometimes or almost never make mycotoxins? Could something

else be responsible for your decline in health? Most likely, it is a

combination of factors. Unless all are removed you will continue

to decline.

Who collected the sample and with what equipment, is another

question. Is the sample location damp or dry? Living area or non-

living like attic or crawlspace? History of previous water events?

Is the dust sampled from visible mold growth or from

accumulated dust in general?

Is there an inspection report? How were the sample locations

determined? What is the question being asked that sampling can

answer?

No sampling of any kind can answer that question by itself.

As I stated above, there are several ways to interpret the

information. I need other information to determine which

interpretation is most likely to true.

If you have an inspection report I'd like to see what it says. That

could certainly help to interpret these " numbers. "

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

I say both have contributed to the decline. The apartment is obviously

more contaminated than the office. However, the presence of certain

species that are known mycotoxins producers concerns me: A.

flavus/oryzae, fumigatus, ochraceus, restrictus, versicolor, C. globosum,

P. chrysogenum, purpurogenum, A. amstelodami, T. viride &

Stachybotrys, among others.

I also highly recommend that you have testing done for Gram negative

and positive bacteria. These can produce enterotoxins and exotoxins.

The Gram negative also release endotoxins which are known synergist

with trichothecenes and aflatoxin B1.

[] Re: Mold Testing - labs & methods RESULTS

Just got the Results from mycometrics. I believe they tested for 39

species via MSQPCR from dust samples.

Please comment. Is there a link to explain how I can interpret those

results? I'm trying to figure out which of the 2, if any, is most likely to

have contributed to the decline in my health status.

former office

http://www.mediafire.com/?iwctvolx4vs97gr

current appartment

http://www.mediafire.com/?7liuoap316887ih