Re: Is sarcoidosis caused by toxinogenic mold or mycotoxin...

[Guest guest]

Sadly, they still don't know what causes sarcoidosis. At the FRS site www.stopsarcoidosis.org-- there is a brochure and articles about what they assume may cause sarc.

It does look like a genetic predisposition to autoimmune disease, with an enviromental component that may have turned our immune systems on, and we don't have the correct dna protein to shut it down.

With the aspergillus fungal infection- we seem to have a precedent to developing it- however, it is always part of our enviroment, and necessary also, but when it's out of control, it does take hold in our lungs due to susceptibility.

We all wish they knew what causes sarc, but for now-- it's still in the works.

Take care,

Tracie

NS Co-owner/moderator

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[Guest guest]

Hello,,I just found some relevant info on this..The NIH National Heart Blood and Lung Institute web page for " who is at risk " to get sarcoidosis lists mold as a possible cause, but it's clearly not the only cause. But I can see how mold is probably a big factor in some of the other risk factors as well.

(my comments are in parentheses)From http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/sarc/sar_whoisatrisk.html " People who are more likely to get sarcoidosis

include: Health care workers (could be exposures to lots of different pathogens there, also many hospitals are old and moldy) Nonsmokers (??? clearly, tobacco isn't the cause) Elementary and secondary school teachers (many schools these days are moldy)

People exposed to agricultural dust,

insecticides, pesticides, or mold (agricultural dust often contains a lot of molds, too) Firefighters. (exposed to high amounts of mold and also toxic chemicals, metals, lead paint, etc. during the firefighting process)

Brothers and sisters, parents, and

children of people who have sarcoidosis are more likely than others to have

sarcoidosis. " (people who live with other people are more likely to have also shared environmental exposures with them as well) When you have common exposures causing things, it makes it very hard to discover them via statistics. Mold is a fairly common exposure. But some molds are uncommon and extremely toxic. Thats the kinds we had. Also, for a building to get so very 'sick' it also requires lots of moisture over a long time. Not just a leak or two that gets fixed.

For example, look at smoking and tobacco. If everyone smoked tobacco, or had lived with somebody who smoked, which was pretty much the case in the 19th century, they would probably be looking at genetic causes exclusively for the various tobacco diseases because it would then come down to genetic factors. They would never have discovered the tobacco connection.

The reason I'm wondering is because I got very ill in a moldy building and I am wondering now if I have sarcoidosis and if so, the connection seems obvious to me, that building was SO toxic. Words don't describe it. There were closed up rooms in the basement that looked like those pictures you see of New Orleans houses.

Sadly, they still don't know what causes sarcoidosis. At the FRS site www.stopsarcoidosis.org-- there is a brochure and articles about what they assume may cause sarc.

It does look like a genetic predisposition to autoimmune disease, with an enviromental component that may have turned our immune systems on, and we don't have the correct dna protein to shut it down.

With the aspergillus fungal infection- we seem to have a precedent to developing it- however, it is always part of our enviroment, and necessary also, but when it's out of control, it does take hold in our lungs due to susceptibility.

We all wish they knew what causes sarc, but for now-- it's still in the works.

Take care,

Tracie

NS Co-owner/moderator