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Mold: Can It Make You Sick? (a report from 2002)
Mold: Can It Make You Sick?
http://www.ktvu.com/specialreports/1849083/detail.html
The Meniketti's of Livermore seem like a typical suburban family. Mom and dad and the boys go to their mailbox every day, but they're actually living in a nearby hotel. They say they can't go in their house -- that something inside was nearly killing them.
Donelle Meniketti says, "All of us had been sick, we didn't know exactly what was going on, I didn't have any feeling in these six fingers, I was having a lot of trouble with dizziness."
All four mysteriously fell ill a couple of years ago. Ten year old Kyle was hospitalized for a month.
"He was in two of the top medical teaching hospitals and he had over 40 doctors and nobody could diagnose it," says Donelle.
41-year-old Keith Meniketti says he suffered memory loss and other problems so severe that he lost his job.
I'm still having cognitive problems, I'm still having that fatigue and respiratory breathing problems," he says.
37-year-old Jacy Lockhart of Redwood City says similar symptoms have frightened him in the past two years.
"Pressure in my head, and debilitating fatigue and dizziness, just happened, one day I woke up and bam. I would walk down the sidewalk, and I would have a hard time finding where my feet was hitting the sidewalk," he says.
Lockhart says he also had seizures and saw 10 different doctors, and had six CAT scans.
"That's what was most frightening was all these tests were coming back normal, yet I knew something very wrong was happening with me. It's a nightmare, a nightmare that never goes away, and it's gotta, I hope it goes away sometime."
Redwood City immunologist Vincent Marinkovich says he discovered that Lockhart, and the Meniketti's, suffer the same problem.
"These are very high antibody levels, indicating you've been exposed to very high levels of mold somewhere in your environment," says Marinkovich.
Toxic mold. Like the mold you might find around leaky pipes or bathrooms. Although some doctors and even the Centers for Disease Control say the evidence is uncertain that mold makes people sick. Marinkovich says he's convinced mold toxins have overwhelmed his patients' bodies.
Marinkovich says, "When you're exposed to large amounts continually over a long period of time, eventually your immune system becomes hyper-acute. It begins to over-react to the mold and when that happens, symptoms ensue."
In some cases, as in Lockhart's, mold actually forms colonies in the body. Marinkovich says these CAT scans show Lockhart's sinuses clogged with mold, with fungus.
Rare? Hardly. The Mayo Clinic estimates more than 30 million Americans suffer with some form of mold in their sinuses. But few know the real cause.
"94% of patients with chronic siunusitis have an underlying fungal colonization in the sinuses. We physicians have been treating sinusitis with anti-biotics for years and that usually clears the patient up temporarily," says Marinkovich.
But as Kyle Meniketti and his family now know, antibiotics don't work on fungus. Mold just roars back. Doctors say it can cause a variety of stubborn symptoms ranging from flu-like runny nose, tiredness and migraine headaches, to seizures and brain disorders. To survive, patients have to avoid mold.
Lockhart adds, "There's that fear this is somehow permanent..."
"No, no, you'll recover, your symptoms will go away, but your hypersensitivity will persist for a lot longer than your symptoms will," assures Dr. Manikovich.
Lockhart is a news photographer for KTVU. He's taking anti-fungal drugs and avoiding exposure to mold. As are the Meniketti's, all also are avoiding a surprisingly wide range of foods containing mold products. The Meniketti's say they found the source of their problem -- a toilet overflowed, and resulting mold eventually spread through the house.
Experts say the best advice to protect yourself is to look around your house, find and fix any water leaks, and if you have persistent symptoms, see your physician and discuss possible mold allergies.
FOODS RICH IN FUNGAL(MOLD) PROTEIN-ALLERGENS
Dried Fruit -- Raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, etc.
Aged Cheese -- some cheeses are okay if milk is not a problem. e.g. cottage cheese, mozzarella, provolone, ricotta and farmers cheese.
Leftovers -- Eat within 24 hours, unless frozen
Mushrooms
Over-ripe Fruites and Vegetables --(Discolored, wilted, mushy)
Breads -- Check ingredients. Malted means moldy. Dough conditioners are moldy. Sourdough is the worst (sometimes labeled yeast-free). Bread develops surface mold after a day. Tortillas, biscuits, muffins, cakes and cookies are usually yeast-free.
Tomato Products -- Juice, sauce, paste, ketchup, etc., are made from moldy tomatoes.
Beer -- The darker the brew, the more mold it contains.
Wine and Wine Vinegar -- White wine is least moldy: clear vinegar may be tolerated.
Most Liquors -- Vodka, Tequila, clear rums are least moldy.
Multi-B Vitamins -- Contain either yeast or mold (rice hulls are moldy)
Processed Meats -- Hot dogs, sausage, salami, bologna, etc. Solid preserved meats such as ham, turkey, pastrami, may be okay.
Hamburger -- Often from aged meat: eat within a day of grinding.
Products of Aspergillus Fermentation -- Soy Sauce, Chocolate, Tea(black), Malt Extract (bread, cereals), Lactaid (milk additive), Citric Acid (a common food additive; not derived from citrus fruit)
Fruit Juice (commercial -- often from moldy fruit, many contain mold enzymes added in processing), Digestive Enzymes (pancreatic are okay), Cholesterol-lowering Enzymes.
Note: All foods will become moldy with time. Shop frequently, buy in small quantities. Read labels. Molds thrive on sugar, so control your intake. A moldy environment (home, office, school, church, car).
* There is a controversial blood test called MAST test for mold available in some places.
More:
Mayo Clinic study implicates fungus as a cause of chronic sinusitis
The doctor that knows mold:
Vincent A. Marinkovich, M.D.
Redwood City, CA.
650-482-2800
Copyright 2002 by KTVU.com.
This report is repeated because it is so well done, and is still helpful today.
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Mold Education: Detection of Mold and Mycotoxin Antibodies in DNA in Blood, Saliva and Lung Secretions, announced by ImmunoSciences Lab, CA
Mold Education: Detection of Mold and Mycotoxin Antibodies in DNA in Blood, Saliva and Lung Secretions (Aristo Vojdani, PhD, M.T., Director, ImmunoSciences Lab, Beverly Hills, CA)
http://www.immuno-sci-lab.com/molds.pdf
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"Molds and fungi have been present on this planet for almost three billion years now.The majority of molds are quite harmless, but a few of them, under certainenvironmental conditions, may produce spores containing mycotoxins. Indeed, out of the many thousands of molds contaminating the air indoors, only a few have beenfound to possess allergens or allergy-inducing antigens. This means that even if individuals may be exposed to a multitude of molds found indoors, they will reactonly to those that produce mycotoxins. Many molds reproduce by making spores, which, upon achieving contact with a moistfood source, can germinate and commence the production of a branching network ofcells called hyphae. Molds have varying requirements for moisture, food, temperature,and other environmental conditions for growth. In water-damaged buildings, environmental laboratory examinations utilizing swabs forcounting viable microbial activity or air samples and total bioaerosols detected the presence ofthe following molds at the rate of 10-1000 fold greater than that found in the air outdoors.
Click here for Mold Education: Detection of Mold and Mycotoxin Antibodies in DNA in Blood, Saliva and Lung Secretions (Aristo Vojdani, PhD, M.T.)"
Introduction taken from Monday Morning Mold, August 22, 2005, Cynthia Coulter Mulvihill, Esq.
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In memory of Mark Tatum, Man Without A Face (due to home mold)
In memory of Mark Tatum
http://mold-help.org/content/view/544/
Susan Lillard-Roberts
3/2/05
Mr. Mark Tatum, also known by many as the man without a face, passed Saturday, February 26, 2005. Tatum lost his eyes, upper jaw, and nose to a fungal infection. This type of infection is not that unusual, but the extent of the damage that it did to Tatum was very rare. Tatum was a medical phenomena due to the fact that he survived the infection. He was highly profiled in the media by many people, including Larry King, Maury Povich, and Ripley's Believe it or Not. He was a courageous individual who served as a symbol of strength and hope.
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