SEALED
IN
During the cold months, homes, offices full of mold and mites
By: Suzanne
Barber, 11/2/99
Steve Goselin makes house
calls.
As President
of Envirotech Clean Air, Inc., an environmental service provider, Goselin gets
to the source of what many people are calling "sick house syndrome."
Bundle up
all you want. Take echinacea 'till the cows some home. Drink orange juice until
you turn blue. But you still might feel sick.
And your
house might be the culprit.
“Windows
are now closed. There’s less air entering. Meanwhile, heat is flowing through
air ducts where  mold
has been growing all summer,” says Sharon Schumack, health education coordinator
for the New England Chapter of the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America.
“Dust
mites and mold are among the most common allergies,” she says.
Many people
suffer through what they consider “their yearly fall cold,” according to allergist
Dr. Frank Twarog. But what they may have is allergies and adverse reactions to
poor indoor air quality. November
marks an influx of emergency asthma hospital visits – about five times more often
than
in other months, according to Dr. Twarog.
“I think
that it’s a mammoth epidemic,” Goselin agrees. Difficulty breathing is an occupational
hazard
for Goselin, who cleans ventilation and decontaminates mold in residential and
office buildings. “A lot of people don’t realize the extent to which it is affecting
their health and the health of their children.”
“Mold breeds
in moist environments, particularly in basements, where flooding is common,” he
says. “Though carpets may be dry after a flood, the mold continues to grow and
sparks an allergic reaction in many people and flares-up asthma – an inflammatory
condition.”
Moist, warm
environments are “dust mite heaven” according top Goselin. Fecal pellets from
common household dust mites are one of the biggest causes of the unrelenting cold-like
symptoms many experience during the fall and winter, he adds.
“(Dust mites)
feed off our shed skin cells, “ says Schumack. She says the most important place
to decontaminate is the bedroom, where
there’s the highest concentration of dust mites.
“Encase
your mattress in allergy-proof covering – some allergists even recommend sealing
the zipper with duct tape,” she advises, and recommends washing all bedding in
hot water at least once a week. “Dust
mite pellets are very fine and can easily become airborne,” she says.
Beginning
in 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency has begun to rank indoor air quality
among its top five environmental issues.
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