Help Needed on Bacterial Results

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I'm not doing much mold IAQ these days, and when I do, I rarely take samples for

the reasons often espoused here.

However, a building occupant who is on anti-cancer therapy recently discovered a

lot of black powdery " stuff " on her walls near the floors (it had been concealed

by built-in furniture; it was obviously mold to my eyes but her colleagues

thought it was copier toner).

Because of her immune-compromised nature and the fact that she's having some

respiratory issues, I wanted to whether the spores were viable, and know the

genus so that she could share that with her ENT & oncologist.

Because I knew the sewer had once backed up and flooded this room, I also went

ahead and had the lab analyse for bacteria. Mostly out of curiosity I guess,

since I had no real objective for the bacterial data. And, well, you know what

they say about curiosity killing the cat...

So now I have these bacteria results, and my gut feeling is that they are high,

but I can't find any standards or " typical " values to compare them to. Because

of the mold, the presence of the bacteria doesn't really change my recommended

course of action (removal of the contaminated drywall). And the bacteria are

gram-positive, not so they aren't the kind of sewage bacteria normally

associated with serious illness.

Nevertheless, I'd like to be able to provide the occupant with some sense of how

these bacterial levels might - or might not - affect her health, so that she can

share appropriate info with her physicians.

That's a long intro, for so little data! If anyone can look at the results

below m and provide useful advice, I'd appreciate it. I get the daily digest so

please also cc me directly on any replies (cavanaughmm@...).

Thanks in advance,

mmc

Culturable Bacterial Analysis, taken from bulk sample (drywall)

Media & Temp: 3 MEA, 1 CMA, 1 DG18, 25°C

Results: 100% Gram (+) bacilli and other cocci

Count = 49

CFU/in2 = 61,000

Culturable Fungal Analysis, taken from bulk sample (drywall)

Media: 3 TSA, 1 MSA, 3 MacConkey//CNA

Results:

100% Penicillium

Count = 41

CFU/in2 = 550,000