|
This document is also available as a PDF. Headers for cached page salon.drkoop.com/healthnews/latest/july/mold_illness.html:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: Microsoft-IIS/4.0 Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 01:48:16 GMT Connection: Keep-Alive Content-Length: 33879 Content-Type: text/html Set-Cookie: ASPSESSIONIDQQQQGGBK=ANDOGMKCFOJDPAONNIFNCGPB; path=/ Cache-control: private
Health News Health News > News Summary >
Login
Join Mystery illness linked to a water-loving
mold
News Sections July 6, 1999 Health News Alan Bavley
· Announcements New York Times Syndicate
and Recalls
· Editorials It happened suddenly last December to 1-month-old William Rippy of
· Kansas City, Mo. His mother, Jodie Atherton, found him crying in pain. She
Feature Reports picked him up. His breathing sounded funny. He began to pant.
· Health Events
· News Summary Atherton got William to the Children's Mercy emergency room, where
· Polls doctors saved his life.
· Special Reports He was drowning in his own fluids,'' hospital pediatrician Ken Wible said.
They were sucking blood from his endotracheal tube.'' William remained in the hospital for a week. Meantime, Flappan visited his
Health News home and discovered the likely cause of William's illness.
· Announcements
and Recalls Above the closet of the baby's room was a leak in the roof. Stachybotrys was
· Editorials growing on the closet wall and ceiling.
· Feature Reports
· Health Events William's father scrubbed out the closet and the roof leak was repaired.
· William has been healthy since.
News Summary
· Polls Many buildings harbor Stachybotrys, said David Straus, a professor of
· Special Reports microbiology at Texas Tech University who investigates complaints of
sick-building syndrome. 1 of 4 9/30/99 1:38 AM drkoop.com: Health News file:///U|/RFHA/Search2.htm Family Health sick-building syndrome.
· Aging Healthy The syndrome refers to a collection of maladies in people, including runny
· Children's Health eyes and noses and flulike symptoms caused by indoor air pollution.
· Dr. Nancy
Snyderman In a study published last year of sick-building syndrome in 48 schools along
· Men's Health the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, Straus found that most had problems with either
· Women's Health Penicillium mold, which can cause allergic reactions such as hay fever, or
Stachybotrys.
Health Resources
· Books Anytime we find Stachybotrys in a school, it correlates very nicely with
· Clinical Trials sick-building syndrome,'' Straus said.
· Drug CheckerSM Stachybotrys forced the Missouri Division of Youth Services last year to close
· Health Site the program at an office for children who have had run-ins with the law.
Reviews Those children now attend a similar program.
· Insurance Center
· Local Resources The mold appeared after the building was flooded by rains last summer.
· Medical It was growing 12 to 15 inches up the wall. In the cabinets. It was
Encyclopedia everywhere,'' said Gail Mumford, the division's regional administrator.
· Personal
Drugstore Staff members weren't very concerned at first. Then came the headaches,
Health & Wellness runny noses and itchy eyes.
· Fitness Center
· To escape the mold, the state moved its employees from the first floor to the
Mental Health second floor, which was Stachybotrys-free.
Center
· Nutrition Center Some experts say Stachybotrys doesn't deserve to be called a lethal mold.
· Prevention Center
· Preventionnaire It's been well known that mold in general is related to respiratory
· symptoms...,'' Mannino said. Virtually no one at CDC says anymore that
Tackling Tobacco toxic molds kill babies.''
Interactive
Communities Researchers who investigated cases of infant lung bleeding in Chicago and
· Chat Detroit were unable to find the same link to Stachybotrys discovered in
· In the Spotlight Cleveland, Mannino said.
· Message Boards The connection between Stachybotrys and deadly illness remains
Conditions & controversial among some scientists because it's very difficult to prove, said
Concerns Berlin Nelson, a professor of plant pathology at North Dakota State
University.
Certainly, there's enough evidence that if you inhale enough of it you're
going to get sick. But we don't know how much you have to inhale,'' Nelson
said. Removing Stachybotrys can be an expensive and laborious process. It's pretty scary when they come out in their full-body suits and respirators,''
said Laurie Chubb about the workers who removed Stachybotrys from the
basement playroom of her Overland Park house last year. Workers pulled up carpet and padding, ripped apart a built-in cabinet, and
tore out insulation and wallboard. Anything that couldn't be removed was
bleached. The bill was $765, although the cost can range from $1,000 to
$1,500 per room. But Laurie and her husband, Steve, consider that money well spent. 2 of 4 9/30/99 1:38 AM drkoop.com: Health News file:///U|/RFHA/Search2.htm Two years ago, their son Brian, now 3, had a constant runny nose, wheezing
and a cough like a smoker's hack every morning and evening. Just after his
second birthday, he was diagnosed with asthma. His doctor prescribed four
kinds of inhalers. The Chubbs had Flappan inspect their house. She found significant amounts
of airborne mold spores in Brian's room and the playroom. The Chubbs moved Brian into his older brother's bedroom. They had the air
ducts and carpets cleaned and installed an electronic furnace filter. Mold levels declined, but Brian still had asthma attacks. Flappan made
another visit. Laurie Chubb pointed out discolored wallboard from a
basement leak: It tested positive for Stachybotrys. That's when the Chubbs had their playroom ripped out. Brian's symptoms
have disappeared. He no longer needs asthma medications. There's no doubt in our minds that Stachybotrys was the cause of the
problem,'' Laurie Chubb said. Some homeowners are choosing to litigate when faced with water damage
and Stachybotrys. Jan and Anita Fichman became the talk of south Leawood last year when
they wrapped blue plastic sheeting around their $500,000 Hallbrook house
to keep out water. They sued Hallbrook Realty, their builder and others, saying faulty
construction let water into the house and allowed Stachybotrys to grow inside
the walls. The couple said the mold caused them and their two young sons to have
recurring eye irritation, sinus infections, headaches and other allergic
reactions. The Fichmans eventually removed the plastic and settled their lawsuit, but
they are prohibited by terms of the settlement from discussing the matter. Research into Stachybotrys is under way at several medical centers to
discover how the mold causes illness. Dearborn of Case Western Reserve has found that newborn rats will die of
lung bleeding when quantities of Stachybotrys spores are put into their lungs. But he still is trying to explain how human infants might die by inhaling small
amounts of spores. Another reason for doubts about Stachybotrys' role in illness is that the mold
often does not turn up in cultures from air samples. That's because the
airborne spores die quickly, Dearborn said, even though their toxins remain
dangerous for years. Dearborn is working with the EPA on new genetic tests to identify molds from
spores in air samples. But the evidence against Stachybotrys is strong enough already to warrant
caution, said Efross of the EPA. We can't wait for the definitive answer of how it gets from point A to B,'' he 3 of 4 9/30/99 1:38 AM drkoop.com: Health News file:///U|/RFHA/Search2.htm said. There is obviously a connection between Stachybotrys and bad health
effects. The thing to do is avoid it.'' This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not
use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a
qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or
concerns you may have regarding your condition.
© 1998-1999
drkoop.com, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Home Search Help Ad Info Site Map Join About Us
Acceptable Use Policy 4 of 4 9/30/99 1:38 AM |
| Search |
| Mirrors |