Source: EPA.gov

AHEPA Apartments 242 is located on Woods Lake Drive. AHEPA is a non-profit organization that provides affordable housing for low-income and disabled seniors in 21 states, receiving funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

25 of the 48 units in Greenville were evacuated Thursday after an environmental testing firm detected “elevated levels of mold” in the 25 units, according to John Hayes, an attorney representing AHEPA. Hayes says some residents complained of allergies and asthma-like symptoms that could be caused by the mold. AHEPA has also partially evacuated two of its apartment buildings in Columbia because of mold.

“We believe it has to do with the way these buildings were built,” says Hayes, who specializes in construction law. “But we have to not only figure out what’s going on; we have to come up with a plan to fix it.”

He says the same general contractor and architect designed and constructed all three buildings. He says AHEPA has filed a lawsuit against the firms, declining to name them because of the pending litigation.

Hayes says the respiratory issues caused by the mold have not created any more serious health problems for the residents.

“I’ve had bad allergies and headaches,” says Caroline Yokim, one of the seniors who was evacuated. “But I’ve had allergies for a long time, so I can’t say for sure that it was caused by anything environmental here.”

The residents are now being housed at local hotels. Hayes says there is no timeframe on how long it might take to get the seniors back into their apartments.

“We still have to find the exact cause of the mold and fix it because if we don’t fix it, the mold will come back,” says Hayes.

He says an investigation of the two buildings in Columbia showed the structures were built without critical moisture-diversion material that is supposed to be placed between the exterior walls and the facade. The Greenville building will be investigated soon.

Environmental crews were busy Thursday de-contaminating the affected apartments and cleaning residents’ belongings.

Because they lack chlorophyll, fungi are incapable of manufacturing their own food; thus, they are parasitic. They survive by feeding on and digesting the nutrient value from other living and non-living organisms.

Surely, such a description hints that fungi are dangerous, but not all are. While some fungi can and do pose a serious threat to humans and other living organisms, many have beneficial value. For example, a number of mushrooms are highly sought after as delectable delights; yet others are extremely poisonous if eaten.

Furthermore, most gardeners realize that mushrooms, mold and mildew play an important role in the decomposition process. They are the major contributors to rotting. If it were not for these fungi, organic matter would not decay, certainly a necessary process to rid the landscape of dead organisms. Decomposition breaks down dead organic matter into its basic elements, recycling valued nutrients back to the soil.

Other beneficial forms of fungi involve certain molds. Every schoolchild eventually learns that in 1928 a research scientist by the name of Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the antibacterial action of Penicillium notatum mold. His discovery later led to the development of medicines such as penicillin and other wonder drugs used to treat diseases inside the human body.

Did you know a bluish-colored mold called Penicillium roqueforti is what makes blue cheese blue and provides that distinctive flavor in blue cheese and Roquefort dressing? There is also a species of white mold called Penicillium candidum. This mold colors, ripens and favors Brie and a variety of other white cheeses.

Yeast, another fungus, makes it possible for the rising of bread and assists in the fermentation process that gives us beer and wine.

In spite of all the beneficial values, many fungi still pose serious dangers to plants as well as humans and animals. Those who have gardened for any length of time are acutely aware of the many maladies caused by fungi. Whether we refer to these fungal problems as molds, mildews, or blights, they are diseases. Such deadly fungi attack and destroy many of the valued plants we attempt to grow in our landscape. Turfgrass, trees, flowers and vegetables are all at risk.

An estimated 37 million people in the United States suffer from chronic sinusitis, an inflammation of the membranes of the nose and sinus cavity. Its incidence has been increasing steadily over the last decade. Common symptoms are runny nose, nasal congestion, loss of smell and headaches. Frequently the chronic inflammation leads to polyps, small growths in the nasal passages which hinder breathing.

“Up to now, the cause of chronic sinusitis has not been known,” say the Mayo researchers: Drs. David Sherris, Eugene Kern and Jens Ponikau , Mayo Clinic ear, nose and throat specialists. Their report appears in the September issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

“Fungus allergy was thought to be involved in less than ten percent of cases,” says Dr. Sherris. “Our studies indicate that, in fact, fungus is likely the cause of nearly all of these problems. And it is not an allergic reaction, but an immune reaction.”

The researchers studied 210 patients with chronic sinusitis. Using new methods of collecting and testing mucus from the nose, they discovered fungus in 96 percent of the patients’ mucus. They identified a total of 40 different kinds of fungi in these patients, with an average of 2.7 kinds per patient.

In a subset of 101 patients who had surgery to remove nasal polyps, the researchers found eosinophils (a type of white blood cell activated by the body’s immune system) in the nasal tissue and mucus of 96 percent of the patients.

The results, the researchers say, clearly portray a disease process in which, in sensitive individuals, the body’s immune system sends eosinophils to attack fungi and the eosinophils irritate the membranes in the nose. As long as fungi remain, so will the irritation.

“This a potential breakthrough that offers great hope for the millions of people who suffer from this problem,” says Dr. Kern. “We can now begin to treat the cause of the problem instead of the symptoms.”

More research is underway at Mayo Clinic to confirm that the immune response to the fungus is the cause of the sinus inflammation. The researchers are also working with pharmaceutical companies to set up trials to test medications to control the fungus. They estimate that it will be at least two years before a treatment will be widely available.

The researchers distinguish chronic sinusitis — sinusitis that lasts three months or longer — from acute sinusitis, which lasts a month or less. They say that the cause of the acute condition is usually a bacterial infection.

Antibiotics and over-the-counter decongestants are widely used to treat chronic sinusitis. In most cases, antibiotics are not effective for chronic sinusitis because they target bacteria, not fungi. The over-the-counter drugs may offer some relief of symptoms, but they have no effect on the inflammation.

“Medications haven’t worked for chronic sinusitis because we didn’t know what the cause of the problem was,” says Dr. Ponikau. “Finally we are on the trail of a treatment that may actually work.”

Thousands of kinds of single-cell fungi (molds and yeasts) are found everywhere in the world. Fungal spores (the reproductive part of the organism) become airborne like pollen. Some people develop allergies to fungi. The new evidence from the Mayo study suggests that many people also develop a different kind of immune system response.

The standard answer in this industry is every 3 to 5 years however, one must take several things in to consideration, a more frequent air duct cleaning should be performed if:

1) there are smokers in the house

2) there are shedding pets in the house

3) there has been recent remodeling work

4) there are numerous occupants in the home

5) you are not very tidy

6) the cold air return vents are located on the floors versus on the walls

7) you are moving into a new home

In 2004 the Institute of Medicine found there was sufficient evidence to link indoor exposure to mold with upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheeze in otherwise healthy people; with asthma symptoms in people with asthma; and with hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals susceptible to that immune-mediated condition.

And that means a lot of sick people.

“This illness is theoretically expensive to American capitalism. If we say half our buildings are moldy and need to be knocked down, who is gonna pay to knock them down?” asks Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker is one of the world’s leading researchers on the health effects of mold.

Dr. Shoemaker’s book “Surviving Mold” is the go-to guide for those whose genes make them more susceptible to mold illness.

It’s been a struggle for him and others in this breakthrough field to get the U.S. government to even acknowledge their findings on human health.

“What has been the approach in the U.S. is serious of disinformation and misinformation, promulgated for financial info and not medical reasons,” says Dr. Shoemaker.

Moldy housing is so prevalent that Dr. Shoemaker says 21 percent of asthma cases in the United States are caused by mold.

But because most of the research on mold related illness is less than 20 years old, many medical schools don’t cover it and many doctors cannot put the puzzle pieces together when they have patients sickened by mold.

Dr. Shoemaker is hoping a revolution starts not only in military housing, but throughout the United States.

“You will have the citizenry outraged. You will have one person after another say this is wrong for anyone to say a building is safe when people are getting sick from it,” says Dr. Shoemaker.

As always, we will come out, diagnose the problem, and tell you exactly how much it will cost to service the system. However, where Air Care Wizard differs from the competition, is that if you elect to have us service the system while we are there, we waive the service call and only charge parts & labor. What could be more fair? Never a trip charge or over time fee.

His findings are starting to change everything about the way the world views mold-related illnesses.

“It’s systemic. Not a runny nose, not a sneeze, it is an inflammatory cascade that we can show step-by-step, hormone-by-hormone,” says Dr. Shoemaker.

He says the key to it all is in our genes.

By taking just one tube of blood from a patient, Dr. Shoemaker can see if they have the proper immune response gene.

According to Dr. Shoemaker’s research, about 75% of humans have a gene that helps them fight against toxins in the body. The other 25% have a different variation of that gene which means their bodies cannot fend off the same attacks, including those that come from mold.

“There are people who move into the moldiest buildings you find that won’t be affected.  They might have some allergy, but they won’t have inflammatory illness or bio toxicity that other 25% does,” says Dr. Shoemaker.

For years, the CDC has acknowledged that mold can cause respiratory illnesses and asthma in people exposed to water-damaged buildings.

As for more serious illnesses involving the brain and neurological systems, they say that link has not been proven.

But Dr. Shoemaker says his findings, along with other doctors on the cutting edge of research, are now debunking that school of thought.

Those illnesses are not just simple allergies.

“Anywhere in the body where blood flows there can be an effect in inflammatory response to a water-damaged building,” says Dr. Shoemaker.

“When you lose regulation of inflammation, inflammation goes haywire. It’s not stopped, person stays ill,” says Dr. Shoemaker.

Everything from digestive issues to skin lesions to brain damage and memory loss has been linked to mold exposure by Dr. Shoemaker.

So how much exposure is enough to cause these illnesses?

According to the CDC, those standards have not been established.

“Just about every word in that sentence is not only wrong, it’s deceiving in its wrongness. We don’t need high levels to make susceptible people sick because of genetics,” says Dr. Shoemaker.