The Mould Show

I received an email the other day from a client with bad news informing me that his wife has breast cancer. He told me that she had suffered from depression ever since reluctantly moving into a property that had a severe water damage problem and that had been concealed by the real estate agent. This got me thinking about all the research talking about mould exposure and mood disorders like anxiety and depression and even IQ.

In this week’s Livestream, I’m going to review 6 key areas where mental health problems can occur due to mould and water damage:

1. Families that know about mould and water damage

2. Disaster recovery workers

3. The elderly

4. Children and pre-adolescents

5. The immune system. What’s going on inside your body?

6. Tenancy

Is depression the hidden epidemic often not spoken about when discussing building-specific factors surrounding mould and adverse indoor air quality from aeroallergens and other microbes?

REFERENCES:

Literature review of current research on health effects and accepted guidelines for the management of indoor mould and water damage in the built environment. (2013). ACNEM Journal. 32(3): 10 - 16.

Neuropsychological performance of patients following mold exposure. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12584073/

The neurological significance of abnormal natural killer cell activity in chronic toxigenic mold exposures. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14625399/

Indoor mold exposure associated with neurobehavioral and pulmonary impairment: a preliminary report. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15143851/

Psychological, neuropsychological, and electrocortical effects of mixed mold exposure. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15259424/

Cognitive impairment associated with toxigenic fungal exposure: a replication and extension of previous findings. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15477176/

Interventions to improve children's health by improving the housing environment. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15742671/

Dampness and mold in the home and depression: an examination of mold-related illness and perceived control of one's home as possible depression pathways. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17761567/

Quality of life of patients with asthma related to damp and moldy work environments. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22407188/

Indoor factors and behavioural problems in children: the GINIplus and LISAplus birth cohort studies. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22487276/

Disaster-related exposures and health effects among US Coast Guard responders to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: a cross-sectional study. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25099408/

The Relationship of Built Environment to Health-Related Behaviors and Health Outcomes in Elderly Community Residents in a Middle Income Country. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26425497/

The built environment and mental health. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14709704/

Housing dampness and health amongst British Bengalis in East London. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2305276/

Dampness and mold in the home and depression: an examination of mold-related illness and perceived control of one's home as possible depression pathw... - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17761567/

The validity of the environmental neurotoxic effects of
toxigenic molds and mycotoxins (2007). https://print.ispub.com/api/0/ispub-article/11373
Seasonality of births in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a review of the literature. (1997

This week we’re talking about disinfectants and more specifically bleach or sodium hypochlorite. “Does it work, no it doesn’t, look it just feeds the mould, no it doesn’t, yes it does, it makes the mycotoxins worse and simply changes mould from one colour to no colour” Fact or fiction? We all know, there's a lot of websites that say conflicting things. Who do you believe? You might even know the answer, maybe you’ve already made up your mind? But wait - what does the science say? To bring some perspective to the bleach debate, I’m going to take a look at what the National Wrestling Coach Association has to say. Up to 20% of wrestling injuries are caused by skin infections. Tune in to this episode and find out what the martial artists discovered about bacterial transmission and how this leads to improved disinfection methods and best practice for surface decontamination? HINT: contact sports are associated with an increased risk of skin infections, but the conclusions from their research are valuable (and transferrable) to the indoor living environment and similarly, to water-damaged interiors. Join me tomorrow as I go through this very practical topic since all of us from time to time need to clean up the mould. After all, over 70% of homes test positive for mould and research shows that windowsills are often the most frequently contaminated sites. What are we to do? Reach for the latest kill mould solution from the supermarket or hardware store, reach for the latest ultra-green plant-based carbon credit contributing liquid or test out something simple like vinegar? Which disinfectants are best for porous and non-porous materials? What about essential oils? TEASER ALERT: Clove oil (a hidden secret)...see the graph showing its antibacterial effect. All these are viable options you might consider when you need to clean the mould away. But, before you begin, I want to shine a spotlight on what the research says so you can make better-informed decisions for your next cleaning task. Stay till the end and I’ll also show you a simple bathroom hack for cleaning grout joints that have gone mouldy?

Can a live Christmas Tree indoors aggravate your asthma or cause wheeze or contact dermatitis? Is this just a Scrooge conspiracy by a cold-hearted person who despises Christmas and wants us all to buy artificial trees or have no tree at all? Have you or a loved one perhaps started sneezing uncontrollably? Is that due to mould or just the fact that distant Family member/s you don’t see that often are on your doorstep? In this Live Stream, I’m reviewing the facts about what’s been termed Christmas Tree Syndrome and pointing out what’s real news from fake news. Also, find out why there might be fewer Christmas trees in your town or city this year?
REFERENCES:

Christmas tree dermatitis caused by colophonium allergy. 2017. Contact Dermatitis. 77:406-429. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29164686

Identification of mould on seasonal indoor coniferous trees. 2011. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 106: 543-544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2011.03.003

Christmas tree allergy: mould and pollen studies. 1970. C.M.A. Journal. 103: 1272-1276. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1930673/

The Christmas Tree Allergy Phenomenon – Live Christmas Trees Carry Mold That Increase Allergy Symptoms in Susceptible Individuals. 2015. https://nhsjs.com/2015/the-christmas-tree-allergy-phenomenon-live-christmas-trees-carry-mold-that-increase-allergy-symptoms-in-susceptible-individuals/#identifier_0_2869

A Review of Colophonium. https://www.the-dermatologist.com/content/review-colophonium

Exposure and Health Effects of Fungi on Humans. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2016 ; 4(3): 396–404. doi:10.1016/j.jaip.2016.01.008

Kasprzyk I, Rodinkova V, Šaulienė I, et al. Air pollution by allergenic spores of the genus Alternaria in the air of central and eastern Europe. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2015;22(12):9260–9274. doi:10.1007/s11356-014-4070-6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4473279/

The dreaded promise of Christmas and the New Year. 2007. Psychoanal Q. 2007 Oct;76(4):1351-60. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18085014

Imagine that at your workplace - you move to new offices and these offices are sited partially below ground level. Within three months of moving into the new offices, every person who works there has started to suffer from symptoms that consistent with exposure to a water damage buildings and are reacting to the microbes and moulds that are commonly found in these environments.
When the symptoms became unbearable, the office staff started looking for answers. This week on The Mould Show, I'm going to be reviewing the research results that carefully examined each of those office workers to work out two things:
Firstly, was the building contributing something toxic that the workers were being exposed to? And secondly, how could this be best measured by the medical doctors who were involved?
This publication looks at whether or not immunosuppression and adverse events can be measured. And if so, how does one go about doing this? This publication appeared on the 21st of January 2022 in the Journal of Fungi: Toxic Indoor Air Is a Potential Risk of Causing Immuno Suppression and Morbidity-A Pilot Study.
What the scientists did was examine both the patient (that is the occupants of the workplace), and they also looked at the building to see what type of toxins and microbes could be detected.
The purpose of the research was how to prove causality between the symptoms experienced by the workers and exposure to the toxic indoor air. But the scientists weren't satisfied with just using microbiological technique to measure for mould, because it's well recognized that even though these tests are very sensitive and accurate to measure mould spore levels in the air - they can often miss the breakdown fragments of microbes that grow on water damaged buildings.
And therefore, this very exciting research from Finland has implemented a new method to assess toxicity indoors, which looks at collecting condensed indoor air water vapour and test that. Now what does this mean?
Well, essentially, they have devised and patented a method of rapidly collecting water vapor out of the air but again, how did they do this?
The Finnish scientists used three toxicity test methods to see how the indoor air might be compromised. The first one was to use THP-1 macrophages. We cover the other two cell, lines in the podcast.
But what about all those people who are working in water damaged building interiors? We know if they're being exposed to particulate matter, like mould spores and cell fragments, from typical indoor air quality tests like spore traps, bio tape lifts or direct microbiology from the air or surfaces onto Petri plates. But many of the mycotoxins can also be measured in urine? Thanks to this breaking research, there are other, new biomarkers like mycophenolic acid – which is tested from the water vapour indoors.
In turn, what do you think the contribution is to adverse health from mycophenolic acid exposure? The Finnish data shows that mycophenolic acid reduces immune function and the other types of in vitro tests showed that macrophages activity is reduced and that mitochondrial activity is increased, but also that bore sperm motility is interfered with.
Vaali K, Tuomela M, Mannerström M, Heinonen T, Tuuminen T. Toxic Indoor Air Is a Potential Risk of Causing Immuno Suppression and Morbidity-A Pilot Study. J Fungi (Basel). 2022 Jan 21;8(2):104. doi: 10.3390/jof8020104. PMID: 35205859; PMCID: PMC8877819. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35205859/

Think that mould only grows on bread, or on rotting fruit or if it does get inside your home - doesn’t it just live inside your air conditioning ducts where condensation can form, or if there’s been a flood or unexpected water ingress then it might grow on damp wall linings like gyprock plasterboard or on soft furnishings like backpacks or curtains?
This week, I’m wanting to talk about mould growth in extreme habitats like stone and mineral building elements. Think it can’t happen? I didn’t? I thought the only time microbes attacked walls was on really old ones where cultural artefacts like murals in churches or in caves become damaged. This phenomenon is called biodeterioration in the literature. However, I want to share with you some results from an inspection I did where we found mould growing not just on old plaster, but behind bricks, in old mortar joins, behind and between excised bricks and when we cracked some of the bricks open, there was even mould growing inside!!!! How can this be explained? After all, bricks and other stone materials like concrete and terrazzo-type floor tiles are typically a pretty poor foodstuff for microorganisms.
In a recent elegant experiment, some scientists from Israel and Germany did an elegant experiment showing that a fungus called Nigrospora spherica was the dominant fungus with a 100% match with the fungus found growing in efflorescence degrading stone chips of terrazzo floor tiles. When the particle size of the terrazzo was <1mm, the fungus dissolved more than 70% of the powdered tile in 10 days.
Now imagine what happens to your brick work when it gets wet and you see efflorescence. That’s a sign of fungal attack. If you have rising damp, you have slow biodeterioration going on indoors. Health concerns were raised by the authors of this study about breathing in the crystalline salts by residents where terrazzo tiles are breaking up.
This type of dilapidation happens eventually in the built environment. Now I want to show you some examples of fungi growing in a water damaged building inside a wall behind thick plaster....look at the clearly visible mycelium.... What about concrete? Typical fungi to those seen in the contaminated bricks include Aspergillus fumigatus and Penicillium brevicompactum. When concrete specimens were inoculated with these typical fungi and tested for stability and examined under a scanning electron microscope...do you know what they saw and found? The fungi induced: Calcium release from the concrete. If the concrete was wet, then they saw more rapid calcium loss compared to drier concrete.
After 28-days of growth with Penicillium, the stability of the concrete showed a 1% loss.
Now, lets revisit the mould in brick examples... What do you think is going to happen to your house if there’s a fire and the whole house is saturated? How is your remediation process going to get the mould and spores and biofilms out of the bricks, inside the bricks and between the mortar joins?
Citation: Jones CL. Guidelines for the assessment of viable fungal hygiene on indoor surfaces using RODAC petri plates. J Bacteriol Mycol Open Access.
2019;7(5):116‒126. DOI: 10.15406/jbmoa.2019.07.00256
REFERENCES:

Metabolic Activity of Micromycetes Affecting Urban Concrete Constructions. The Scientific World Journal. Volume 2018, Article ID 8360287, https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8360287 OR https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2018/8360287/abs/

Laboratory study of fungal bioreceptivity of different fractions of composite flooring tiles showing efflorescence. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. DOI 10.1007/s00253-014-5628-4 OR https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24652060

Concrete Damage in Field Conditions and Protective Sealer and Coating Systems. Coatings 7(7): June. DOI: 10.3390/coatings7070090 OR https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/7/7/90