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Existence of Toxic Mold Syndrome Questioned

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(*this news item will not be available after 11/13/2005)

By Will Boggs, MD

Friday, October 14, 2005

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mold and dampness can cause

coughing and wheezing, but there is little evidence to

support the existence of the so-called toxic mold syndrome,

according to a report by researchers at the Oregon Health

Sciences University in Portland.

Toxic mold syndrome -- illnesses caused specifically by

exposure to mold -- continues to cause public concern

despite a lack of evidence that supports its existence,

researchers explain in the September issue of the ls of

Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Several critical reviews have

failed to find scientific support for toxic effects from

breathing in mold spores as a viable mechanism of human

disease, they add.

Dr. Barzin Khalili and Dr. Emil J. Bardana, Jr. describe

the clinical characteristics of 50 patients with complaints

of illness they attributed to mold exposure in their home

or workplace. The patients had been referred by a defense

attorney in a civil litigation or by insurance adjusters

representing worker's compensation agencies.

There was no consistent set of symptoms, the authors

report, with patients having an average of more than eight

symptoms. Most patients reported a family or personal

history of allergy or asthma.

Three quarters of the patients had abnormal physical

examination results, the researchers note, with

inflammation of the eye or skin and congestion occurring

most commonly.

Thirty patients had other non-mold-related illnesses that

could explain most, if not all, of their mold-related

complaints, the report indicates, and nearly two thirds of

the individuals had evidence of a previously diagnosed mood

disorder.

" In fact, " the investigators write, " when the entire

history and objective evidence were scrutinized, a number

of well-established and plausible diagnoses emerged that

explained many, if not all, the complaints. "

In a commentary in the journal, Dr. Abba I. Terr from UCSF

Medical Center, San Francisco contends that toxic mold

disease is " the latest in a series of environmentally

related pseudo-illnesses " that include multiple chemical

sensitivity, also known as idiopathic environmental

intolerance, and chronic fatigue syndrome, which was

attributed at one time to infection with Epstein-Barr

virus.

" Since these authors have determined that the patients they

describe do not have a mold-related disease but are

nevertheless seeking compensation for presumed illness

through a legal process that has defined it in those terms,

toxic mold disease is truly a diagnosis of litigation, "

Terr concludes.

SOURCE: ls of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, September

2005.

Sharon Kramer