Mold Related Health Symptoms
Fungi can cause health problems to both humans and animals by several different biological mechanisms: infections, allergenic or hypersensitivity reactions, irritant reactions, toxic reactions, and in certain cases they can even cause death. In fact there were 16 infants who died in an area near Cleveland, Ohio, and the only commonality found among the cases was that all the houses where the infants had lived contained high levels of a toxic mold called stachybotrys chartarum.
According to a 2004 University of Connecticut Health Center report, the following symptoms have been found through scientific investigation to result from exposure to mold and toxic molds:
allergies
asthma
bleeding lungs
breathing difficulties
cancer
central nervous system problems
recurring colds
chronic coughing
coughing up with blood
dandruff problems (chronic) that do not go away despite use of anti-dandruff shampoos
death
dermatitis
skin rashes
diarrhea
eye and vision problems
fatigue (chronic, excessive, or continued)
flu symptoms (chronic)
general malaise
sudden hair loss
headaches
hemorrhagic pneumonitis
hives
hypersensitivity pneumonitis
irritability
itching (of the nose, mouth, eyes, throat, skin or any other area)
kidney failure
learning difficulties
mental dysfunction
personality changes
memory loss or memory difficulties
open skin sores and lacerations
peripheral nervous system effects
redness of the sclera (white of your eyes)
runny nose (rhinitis) or thick, green slime coming out of nose (from sinus cavities)
seizures
sinus congestion
sinus problems
chronic sinusitis
skin redness
sleep disorders
sneezing fits
sore throat
tremors (shaking)
verbal dysfunction (trouble in speaking)
vertigo (feelings of dizziness, lightheadedness, faintness and unsteadiness)
vomiting
Mold Cleanup Protection May Save Your Life
by Edward R Close, PhD, and Jacquelyn A Close, RA
When you enter a building and you don't see or smell anything unusual, it is natural to assume that you are safe, that there is nothing to fear, and that there isn't any mold or anything else there that might harm you. Experience has taught us that this is a dangerous assumption that sometimes leads to dire health consequences. In one case, we found well over 50,000 mold spores per cubic meter of air in samples collected in a home that was spotless.
How could this be possible?
First, mold spores are too small to be detected by the human eye. We must use a microscope to see mold spores. The visible mold we find in our bathrooms, kitchens and basements, as well as other areas of our homes and offices, is actually super-colonies of mold fruiting structures and the millions of mold spores they produce (as many as one million spores per square inch).
Second, mold does not always produce odors. Usually, it is only in the worst of cases that we find odors associated with the presence of mold.
Third, and most importantly, mold colonies can be hidden from sight. Mold may be growing inside heating and air conditioning ducts and HVAC units, in attics or basements or crawl spaces, between exterior and interior walls, between floors and ceilings, behind cabinets, under flooring, behind wallpaper, and in or on papers, boxes, furniture, and other items that are stacked in storage areas.
Fourth, scientific studies have linked exposure to mold to increased respiratory problems, asthma, and many other more serious illnesses, making it vitally important to use personal protective equipment (PPE) when cleaning up mold, removing mold infested materials, and even when entering a space where mold is suspected. A few dollars spent for personal protective equipment (PPE) is a good investment to protect your health.
Respiratory problems that include symptoms associated with colds, flu, or even asthma, may be caused or aggravated by breathing mold spores, both living and dead spores. Yet many people think if they have congestion or breathing problems, or a queasy feeling, that they must have "caught a bug" from someone. Contact with mold is known to cause respiratory problems and also skin rashes and lesions, eye infections, hearing loss, headaches, dizziness, and memory loss. People who experience these symptoms, and the doctors who treat them, often overlook or fail to make the connection between the illness and mold.
We recently visited with a young man whose mother's health had deteriorated for several years. She first experienced chronic colds, then regular bouts with the flu, then bronchitis, then pneumonia, then a brain hemorrhage that hospitalized her for two weeks. Her doctors were baffled by all of this and could find nothing in all their tests to tell them what to do or why she had gotten so sick. Finally, and only because he had been doing mold clean-up for several years, her son asked the doctors to test his mother for mold. They did, and the doctors were astonished but happy to find that mold was indeed the cause of her illnesses. They said they could begin treating her immediately, and that she would be good as new in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the woman had a stroke that very evening and died. If the mold had been identified and addressed early on, she would still be alive today.
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