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Associated Press: Archive Document                http://ap.infonautics.com/s/wire/getdoc....THERINE+RIZZO<BR>Associated+Press+Writer
          Research money goes to study fatal fungus
          By KATHERINE RIZZO
          Associated Press Writer 
          July 31, 1997 07:14 AM GMT 
          WASHINGTON (AP) _ Researchers are getting government help with their quest for
          clues about a slimy, black fungus that has killed 10 Ohio children. 
          The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Centers for Disease
          Control and Prevention together are contributing $76,000 toward research of a toxic
          mold that has sickened at least 60 infants nationwide. 
            The urgency and importance of this study is one that really required attention
          early,'' Dr. George Malindzak of NIEHS said Wednesday. 
          The mold can cause the growing lungs of both human infants and baby mice to
          hemorrhage - a condition called pulmonary hemosiderosis. 
          Dr. Dorr Dearborn of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
          recognized the relatively high incidence of the affliction in the Cleveland area in 1994
          and documented 34 local cases since then, with the most recent case diagnosed
          Monday. 
            We don't understand the apparent prevalence in Cleveland,'' Dearborn said earlier
          this week. 
          Dearborn also has demonstrated that mice developed the same class of symptoms
          as humans, making laboratory research feasible, Malindzak said. 
          The mold, called Stachybotrys atra, grows on water-soaked paper and wood
          products and releases spores into the air. The spores contain a toxin that appears to
          be particularly damaging to infants' growing lungs. 
          When the weakened children are then exposed to something that stresses their
          lungs, like secondhand cigarette smoke, they develop chronic coughs, congestion,
          nose bleeds, anemia, and they cough up blood. 
          The latest occurrence of pulmonary hemosiderosis was confirmed Monday in a girl
          born in April in Lake County, Ohio. 
          Last week, a 4-month-old girl from a Cleveland suburb became the 10th baby to die
          from the disorder. Malindzak said health officials were not sure how many children in
          other areas may also have died the same way. 
          In Cleveland, health officials have been advising homeowners to fix water damage
          promptly and clean moldy surfaces with a mixture of soapy water and bleach. 
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Associated Press: Archive Document             http://ap.infonautics.com/s/wire/getdoc....THERINE+RIZZO<BR>Associated+Press+Writer
          Children with the ailment are treated with steroids and removed from the houses
          were where they were exposed to the mold. 
          Before this year, the fungus had been known to cause internal bleeding in animals
          but had not been linked to human bleeding. 
          COPYRIGHT ASSOCIATED PRESS
          KATHERINE RIZZO
          Associated Press Writer, Research money goes to study fatal fungus., 07-31-1997. 
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