Rains breed moldy month for Alaska

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Rains breed moldy month for Alaska

ANCHORAGE: Allergy sufferers can blame wet September for their

misery.

http://www.adn.com/front/story/8204563p-8098501c.html

By GEORGE BRYSON

Anchorage Daily News

Published: September 17, 2006

Last Modified: September 17, 2006 at 04:52 AM

Click to enlarge

You can smell it in the grass. You can see it on the trees. Maybe

even spy some growing in your house. Or feel it choking your lungs.

Anchorage is awash in mold these days, especially now that it's

September -- this year even moldier than usual thanks to the short,

wet summer. That's because mold loves rain.

The musty proof of the matter can easily be found in measurements

taken by White Environmental Consultants, which for the first time

last spring began to track Anchorage plant pollen and mold spores

three times a week.

Checking their roof-mounted monitor downtown on July 5, White's lab

technicians measured just 300 mold spores per cubic meter of air in

24 hours. Then after an August in which Anchorage recorded 21 days

of rain -- more than twice as much as normal -- the lab crew on

Sept. 1 detected 16,795 mold spores.

That sent the needle on the municipal mold-o-meter (which appears

three times a week on the weather page of the Daily News) soaring

into the " High " range -- and mold allergy sufferers all over town

scrambling for their medicine.

" We've had a lot more calls in the past few weeks, and the patients

that seem to be having the most trouble are those mold-sensitive

patients, " Dr. Demain, a local allergy specialist, said

recently.

" They have wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath. They wake up at

night because some molds are also problematic in the homes right

now. ... Any time you get these kinds of moist cycles you're going

to have more mold growth everywhere. "

The reason is simple, biologists say. Mold thrives on moisture. As a

member of the fungi kingdom, it feeds on wet plants, both living and

dead. And plants are generally wetter here than they are in

Fairbanks, the only other city in Alaska that monitors its mold.

For example, while Anchorage apparently was awash in flying fungi on

Sept. 1, a monitoring effort at the Tanana Valley Clinic in

Fairbanks detected about one-sixth as many spores as Anchorage.

Whether the current mold storm here is more severe than in a typical

September is difficult to prove. The city has no official data from

previous years. The monitoring effort didn't begin until May, when

the Health and Human Services Department received a federal grant

that will allow it to track mold spores and plant pollen levels

through 2008.

But there are unofficial accounts.

During the 1990s, Demain, the Anchorage allergy specialist,

frequently measured mold spores at Elmendorf Air Force Base, where

he was serving as a lieutenant colonel and chief of allergy and

immunology. He recalls that one year the count there topped 20,000

mold spores per cubic meter -- which he thinks could happen again.

" It's certainly the right time of year, and we've got the perfect

conditions, so we're probably going to have a bumper crop, " Demain

says.

That could be especially hard on asthmatics, about a third of whom

are allergic to one type of mold or another, according to research,

Demain says.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF MOLD

The type of mold spore being observed most often right now is the

hyaline ascospore, says Bobby Carroll, a lab manager for White

Environmental Consultants.

" Those are the ascospores that are really transparent. They're

coming out more in the evening, at night, when there is not direct

sunlight hitting on them, and they're actuated by the rain. "

Picture a microscopic version of a puffball mushroom (a kindred form

of fungi) that can easily explode when something touches it,

releasing all its spores in a cloud of brownish smoke, Carroll says.

Molds that produce ascospores propagate the same way.

" So when the rain hits ... it actually causes them to burst and

shoot that stuff up in the air. "

Ascospores vary in size but some are only about 10 microns in

diameter, Carroll says. A micron is one-millionth of a meter, and

something 10 microns wide is just barely visible (by comparison to

that size of ascospore, the head of a pin is about 200 times larger).

Wherever they land, new mold colonies can occur. Mostly, that's good

news for the environment -- because molds and other fungi perform

the vital task of decomposing all the dead plants and trees,

recycling vital chemical elements back into the environment in forms

that other living organisms can consume.

" We eat some fungi -- mushrooms for instance -- culture fungi to

produce antibiotics and other drugs, add them to dough to make bread

rise, and use them to ferment beer and wine, " notes Neil ,

the author of " Biology, " the high school textbook used in the

Anchorage School District.

IN THE HOME

The propagation of mold spores can be bad news for homeowners, when

they colonize in the bathroom or attack structural timbers.

" There's a million different ways they can get into the house --

through the air intake, through your clothing, other things you

bring into the house, " Carroll says.

That's not necessarily a problem, unless once the mold spores are

inside they discover a leaky roof, or plumbing that drips, or a wet

basement, or poor ventilation that leaves a layer of moisture on

wood. Then they'll attack the wood, causing it to rot.

" Mold loves cellulose (in wood fiber), " says Hubbard, a White

Environmental consultant who specializes in indoor air-quality

problems. " And so when you have water intrusion into a structure,

you're more likely than not going to experience some sort of mold

growth.

" I've seen it so bad that it even grows through the sheetrock and

through the paint, where you can visually see the stuff growing. ...

It can happen in a brand-new home. "

But as quickly as some outdoor molds settle on Anchorage when the

skies are consistently rainy, they can disappear when the weather

dries out.

That's exactly what occurred last week, as skies that were more

variable suddenly suppressed the production of ascospores and

lowered the Anchorage mold count to the moderate range.

At the same time, however, other types of mold that proliferate when

sunny skies follow a storm appear ready to take their place,

including the basidiospores and the mitospores.

The latter include a type known as alternaria -- the classic form of

furry mold that ruins moist hay (and led to the expression " hay

fever " in the 19th century, according to Demain).

" That's a really big one for us, " Demain says. " When we get our next

little sunny day, we're going to have another huge spike. "

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Daily News reporter Bryson can be reached at gbryson@....

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FOR MORE about the municipality's mold and pollen index, go to

www.aaaai.org/nab/index.cfm

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Got mold? Here's what you can do

It's impossible to eliminate mold spores indoors; spores will be

found floating through the air and in house dust. But spores need

moisture to grow on surfaces. If you clean up mold but don't fix

water problems, then the mold likely will come back. Here are a few

tips to control or clean up after mold:

• CLEANING: Scrub mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water,

and dry completely.

• toss out some materials: Absorbent or porous materials, such as

ceiling tiles and carpet, may have to be thrown away if they become

moldy. Mold can grow on or fill in the empty spaces and crevices of

porous materials, so the mold may be impossible to remove completely.

• AIR: If there's mold in your bathroom that seems to reappear,

increase the ventilation (running a fan or opening a window) and

clean more frequently.

• don't cover up: Do not paint or caulk moldy surfaces. Clean up the

mold and dry the surfaces before painting. Paint applied over moldy

surfaces is likely to peel.

• appliances: Use exhaust fans or open windows whenever cooking,

running the dishwasher or dishwashing, etc.

• COLD: Cover cold surfaces, such as cold water pipes, with

insulation to reduce condensation.

• temperature: Increase indoor air temperature.

• AVOID EXPOSURE: When cleaning mold, avoid exposing yourself or

others. You may want to wear a respirator, available at most

hardware stores.

• FAST CLEANUP: When water leaks or spills occur indoors, act

quickly. If wet or damp materials or areas are dried within 24-48

hours, in most cases mold will not grow.

• GUTTERS: Clean and repair roof gutters regularly.

• outside: Make sure ground slopes away from buildings so that water

does not enter or collect around the foundation.

• CONDENSATION: If you see condensation or moisture collecting on

windows, walls or pipes, act quickly to dry the wet surface and

reduce the moisture/water source.

Source: " A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home, " U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency