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By Thomas
W. Adams, C.I.E., L.A.C. Vice President, Envirotest, Inc.
Lately we
have been hearing a lot about so-called toxic molds that can invade buildings
and cause numerous upper-respiratory illnesses in otherwise healthy individuals,
and more severe problems in immuno-compromised persons. Numerous public schools
in Texas have been closed down because of mold contamination. The Texas Department
of Public Health's Laboratory in Austin, Texas was closed because of Stachybotrys
mold contamination.
There is
a long documented history of molds in Gulf Coast buildings. Isn't Texas an Indian
word that means "your buildings will grow mold"? The closing up of buildings with
minimal ventilation in order to save on utility bill costs have resulted in a
surge of new indoor air quality problems.
Some molds
produce toxic chemicals that humans react to in different ways. Several molds
produce substances that have been banned from use under international treaties
on biological and chemical warfare. That itself speaks volumes about the toxic
effects of molds. The spores produced by some Stachybotrys molds contain toxins
called trichothecene mycotoxins. Spores from Stachybotrys and other molds have
been linked to bleeding of the lungs in immuno-compromised persons, especially
infants. Spores are the "seeds" emitted by the molds and are small enough to be
invisible without the use of a microscope.
In Cleveland,
Ohio, in 1993-1994, there was a cluster of infants who were brought to the hospital
with pulmonary hemorrhaging. Several of the children died. Dr. Dearborn of the
Case Western Reserve Medical School investigated and found a correlation between
the disease and massive exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum and other hydrophilic
molds. Investigation of the homes found wet moldy environments, and air samples
identified stachybotrys mold in 24 of 28 of the homes.
Dr. Dearborn's
investigative team reported that other cases of pulmonary hemorrhaging have occurred
in Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. The Texas case involved a
seven-year-old boy whose lung washings grew Stachybotrys. Greater than 85 percent
of the reported cases where the homes were inspected found water intrusion to
be a problem.
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From the
studies performed by Dr. Dearborn, it is obvious that there is a causal link between
wet moldy buildings and illness. Therefore, it is important to understand what
constitutes an environment that can grow mold, and what can be done to prevent
it?
The ingredients
necessary to grow mold inside a building are food, water, and a viable spore.
Water comes from a variety of sources, including: floods, roof leaks, window leaks,
plumbing leaks, and poorly designed HVAC systems, etc. The HVAC systems are of
significant concern, as they are often the transport mechanism for mold spores
within a building. If they are not properly designed, maintained, and cleaned,
then they can act as reservoir sites for the organisms.
Mold eats
a variety of building materials, principally wood fibers. Mold spores are ubiquitous,
being present before, during, and after construction. The source of water must
be stopped in order to control mold growth. Remediation of mold-contaminated items
is similar to the methods used for asbestos abatement.
As an analog
to our current knowledge and awareness of the health effects of molds can be made
to the outbreak of Legionnaire's disease 23 years ago.
This story
starts at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the
American Bicentennial celebrations in July 1976. Candidates for American Legion
office positions had invited fellow Legionnaires to one of five various hospitality
suites in order to garner their votes. Within a week of these activities, 182
cases of acute pneumonia illness were reported to the Pennsylvania Department
of Health. Twenty-nine deaths resulted from the then unknown cause of the pulmonary
illness.
Since 82
percent of the illnesses were developed by Legionnaires, the moniker Legionnaire's
Disease was used by the press in front page stories. To make matters worse, some
press were reporting the possible link between the Philadelphia illnesses to the
most deadly pandemic of the 20th century, the 1918 Flu. The 1918 flu was so virulent
that it killed an estimated 21 million worldwide and an estimated 450,000 in the
U.S. alone. The flu caused bleeding in the lungs and death in a very short amount
of time.
The Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) was brought in to Philadelphia in order to determine
the cause of the recent illness. They investigated, using all of the tools of
their trade, and were unable to determine if the disease was caused by a toxin,
bacteria, parasite, fungus, or virus. Studies continued for nearly six months
before the cause was determined to be a bacterium.
The bacteria
were found to live in the hotel's cooling-tower water that was transported to
the hospitality suites to be used for cooling during the hot month of July. It
was theorized that one of the ceiling-mounted air handler units was emitting a
small mist of the cooling tower water from a leak in the system, from which the
occupants inhaled the organism.
The Bellevue-Stratford
Hotel, which could not maintain enough customers to keep the doors open, subsequently
shut down, and was later demolished.
From July
1976 until January 1977, the cause of Legionnaire's disease was a mystery to the
CDC. The CDC currently maintains that there is not enough evidence to directly
link mold to pulmonary hemorrhage; however, the facts seem to speak for themselves.
We may never
look at a water leak problem the same way again, especially if it involves our
children. How much evidence is necessary to convince us to deal with these indoor
air quality issues in an aggressive fashion?
Indoor air
quality complaints such as headaches, sinus problems, and asthma are indicators
of a reaction to mold spores. These symptoms, as well as obvious mold growth or
moldy smells, certainly warrant timely follow-up activities. A prudent course
of action for one of these situations would involve the use of a competent indoor
air quality professional to investigate the issue and make recommended response
actions.
Thomas
"Willie" Adams, C.I.E. is vice president of Envirotest, Inc. and is a Certified
Indoor Environmentalist. He can be reached at Envirotest's Houston headquarters.
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