The Mould Show

After a tiresome day, there is nothing better than crawling into bed and laying your head down onto a soft, comforting pillow. But before you drift off into the sweetest of dreams, take a moment to think about the hidden dangers lurking within your pillow. It could turn out to be your worst nightmare... 

A 2006 study looked into the fungi living in pillows, and they discovered that the most common 3 fungi were:​ Aspergillus fumigatus​, A​ureobasidium pullulans​ and a yeast, called Rhodotorula.​ What’s frightening is that ​Aspergillus fumigatus​, the most common fungus found in the pillows, is known to have implications for patients who have respiratory disease, especially those individuals suffering from asthma and sinusitis. 

The study went further, discovering that fungi were more prolific in synthetic fibres than natural ones. Over the past 30 years, our bedding buying habits have changed from feather and flock pillows, sheets and blankets to mainly polyester pillows and quilts. This means that we are being exposed to more of this potentially harmful fungus and that our pillows aren’t as hygienic as we think. 

For people living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a respiratory illness that affects 400,000 people in Oceania, the threat from this harmful fungus is very real. A recently published study found that up to 4% of COPD sufferers will develop infectious aspergillus, which has a startling mortality rate of 40-70%. This means that in any one year, approximately 7000 people die prematurely from invasive aspergillosis. 

And the most common fungus that causes invasive aspergillosis is ​Aspergillus fumigatus​, the same fungi that is the most commonly found in pillows. 

Even for those who don’t suffer from COPD, there is still cause for concern from invasive aspergillus. 

More than ever, people are buying pillows that are branded as being “allergy friendly” and these are often made from buckwheat, but contrary to their allergy friendly claims, they can sometimes be the cause of someone’s reaction. 

As well as being a hotbed for aspergillosis, buckwheat has been a known allergen since 1909. A report from 2003 outlines the case of a 24year old man in the US who went to his doctor reporting that he had been suffering from a worsening cough for the past three months, eventually becoming asthmatic. Any kind of medication prescribed to him was ineffective, yet the patient noted that anytime he spent time away from home his symptoms would improve, only to worsen when he returned. 

This led the doctors to test for any allergies the patient may be suffering from, and the results showed that he was suffering from a strong allergic reaction to both his buckwheat pillow as well as the aspergillus fungi growing inside of it. After removing both buckwheat pillows from his apartment, his cough and other symptoms completely resolved within four days. 

So how can you protect yourself from potentially harmful and hidden microbes in your pillows? One way would be to use a pillow protector to limit the physical contact you may be having with anything harmful within the pillow. Additionally, replacing your pillows more frequently will reduce the amount of harmful Aspergillus fumigatus you’re being exposed to. Moreover, being aware of what your pillows are made from will help you better understand the potential risks you are living with. If you use a synthetic or buckwheat pillow, it may be worth looking into replacing them with a natural feather pillow, which has fewer porous holes, therefore reducing contamination. 

Perhaps most important of all is simply being aware of the risks of infectious aspergillosis on susceptible people. Taking these simple precautions can help reduce the rate of premature deaths from infectious aspergillosis in the community. 

Breakthrough research out this past week shows that the gut mycobiome has a big influence on brain function.  Researchers have discovered that the Ketogenic diet can be used to manipulate the gut microflora and that certain fungi are linked with mild cognitive impairment.  The Keto diet was compared against participants who ate a diet endorsed by the  American Heart Association diet.  

REFERENCES:

Nagpal, R., Neth, B., Wang, S., Mishra, S., Craft, S., & Yadav, H. (2020). Gut mycobiome and its interaction with diet, gut bacteria and alzheimer's disease markers in subjects with mild cognitive impairment: A pilot study. Ebiomedicine, 59, 102950. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102950

Ketogenic diet. Healthdirect.gov.au. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/ketogenic-diet. Published 2020. Accessed September 3, 2020.

The COVID pandemic has shone a lens on the issue of mechanical ventilators.  No one wants to get that sick that ventilation is required just to have a chance at staying alive. In turn, what if there was a way to predict who would have a severe lung disease response or go on to suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ADRS) and who wouldn't?  Well, some clever scientists have just discovered why some people show a high level of inflammation and seem to go on and suffer with ADRS.  In this LiveStream, I'm going to review this exciting breakthrough recently presented by the European Respiratory Society this week on Monday. Using next-generation sequencing, they were able to work out that the diversity of the lung fungal microflora (the mycobiome) predicted not only inflammation but detected the risk for which groups of people would have more severe lung disease.  I'll even tell you the biomarker they tracked.  So, what does this mean for you...well, if you have a predisposition to lung disease, then you'll want to tune in and find out why having a more diverse lung fungal mycobiome is better than lungs that show a dominance of one particular fungus.  Tune into the Livestream to find out which fungus is the worst to have growing inside.  

REFERENCES:

Abstract no: 3044, "Diversity of the lung microbiome is associated with severity of disease in acute respiratory distress syndrome", by Noel Britton et al; Online from Monday 24 August and presented in the "New insights into mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit" session at 09.30 hrs CEST on Monday 7 September: https://k4.ersnet.org/prod/v2/Front/Program/Session?e=259&session=12387

Fornai F, Carrizzo A, Forte M, et al. The inflammatory protein Pentraxin 3 in cardiovascular disease. Immun Ageing. 2016;13(1):25. Published 2016 Aug 24. doi:10.1186/s12979-016-0080-1

Without medical breakthroughs, more than 6.4M Australians will be diagnosed with dementia in the next 40 years at a cost of more than $1 trillion. This week I want to discuss several exciting publications that have appeared in the research literature in 2020. It’s not just dementia, other diseases like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, stroke, and even depression are increasingly being linked to something called mitochondrial dysfunction. The literature shows that 2 approaches called: methylene blue and photobiomodulation might be very effective. But why? This issue of mitochondria and its’ link with inflammatory processes has been known for some time. Especially, with respect to how fungal pathogens and environmental fungi seem to induce similar mitochondrial dysfunction in humans. I will look at what’s known about this and then review a paper from 2020 showing that fungi have been found in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease. This has been termed ‘polymicrobial invasion’ and suggests that some brain disorders are catalyzed by infections. The main paper I want to focus on as part of this Livestream came out on August 14th, 2020, and shows that brain inflammation, cytokine expression, and memory can be actively modulated with a common anti-fungal drug. This is breakthrough research and suggests this treatment could offer real relief in the near term. Join me on the Livestream or on the Podcast to find out which drug offers this potential microbiological benefit and what evidence supports this claim.

REFERENCES:

Mudarri D, Fisk WJ. Public health and economic impact of dampness and mold [published correction appears in Indoor Air. 2007 Aug;17(4):334]. Indoor Air. 2007;17(3):226-235. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0668.2007.00474.x

Yeo, I.J., Yun, J., Son, D.J. et al. Antifungal drug miconazole ameliorated memory deficits in a mouse model of LPS-induced memory loss through targeting iNOS. Cell Death Dis 11, 623 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-020-2619-5

Pisa D, Alonso R, Carrasco L. Parkinson's Disease: A Comprehensive Analysis of Fungi and Bacteria in Brain Tissue. Int J Biol Sci 2020; 16(7):1135-1152. doi:10.7150/ijbs.42257. Available from http://www.ijbs.com/v16p1135.htm

Yang L, Youngblood H, Wu C, Zhang Q. Mitochondria as a target for neuroprotection: role of methylene blue and photobiomodulation. Transl Neurodegener. 2020;9(1):19. Published 2020 Jun 1. doi:10.1186/s40035-020-00197-z

GBD 2016 Neurology Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet Neurol. 2019;18(5):459-480. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30499-X

Hamblin MR. Shining light on the head: Photobiomodulation for brain disorders. BBA Clin. 2016;6:113-124. Published 2016 Oct 1. doi:10.1016/j.bbacli.2016.09.002

Fisher MC, Gurr SJ, Cuomo CA, et al. Threats Posed by the Fungal Kingdom to Humans, Wildlife, and Agriculture. mBio. 2020;11(3):e00449-20. Published 2020 May 5. doi:10.1128/mBio.00449-20

Zhang JM, An J. Cytokines, inflammation, and pain. Int Anesthesiol Clin. 2007;45(2):27-37. doi:10.1097/AIA.0b013e318034194e

Black mould is a common term used to describe home infestations with mould. Its use is linked with an expectation of toxicity. In this week's Livestream, I report on the first case of Black mould sinusitis and how this was linked with immunocompromised status. Did you know that 17% of insurance claims at a major Australian insurer were water damage related? Did you know that in the USA, approximately 3.6% of the population are immunocompromised? Do you see a pattern here? Damp housing + immune compromise = opportunity for Black mould and other moulds to become BIG problems! Learn more on this Livestream or watch later or listen to the podcast later.

REFERENCES:

Semis M, Dadwal SS, Tegtmeier BR, Wilczynski SP, Ito JI, Kalkum M. First Case of Invasive Stachybotrys Sinusitis [published online ahead of print, 2020 Mar 10]. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;ciaa231. doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa231

Flappan SM, Portnoy J, Jones P, Barnes C. Infant pulmonary hemorrhage in a suburban home with water damage and mold (Stachybotrys atra). Environ Health Perspect. 1999;107(11):927-930. doi:10.1289/ehp.99107927

Massoud Mahmoudi & M. Eric Gershwin (2000) Sick Building Syndrome. III. Stachybotrys chartarum, Journal of Asthma, 37:2, 191-198, DOI: 10.3109/02770900009055442

Shinya Y, Miyawaki S, Nakatomi H, et al. Recurrent cerebral aneurysm formation and rupture within a short period due to invasive aspergillosis of the nasal sinus; pathological analysis of the catastrophic clinical course. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2015;8(10):13510-13522. Published 2015 Oct 1.

Identifying a fungal signature of moisture damage in buildings: targeted and untargeted approaches with mycobiome data. Rachel I. Adams, Iman Sylvain, Michal P. Spilak, John W. Taylor, Michael S. Waring, Mark J. Mendell. Applied and Environmental Microbiology Jun 2020, AEM.01047-20; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01047-20

Khan L. The growing number of immunocompromised - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/2008/01/the-growing-number-of-immunocompromised/. Published 2008. Accessed August 9, 2020.

We hear so much about masks and how they’ll now help stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but their use is not without controversy. I’m doing a livestream on this important topic today. Expect to hear ***NEW*** information and facts. Learn why they work and which ones do and don’t. What does the research say about the true levels of protection? Tune in on Facebook and later on YouTube or my podcast: The Mould Show. 

REFERENCES:

Ability of Fabric Facemasks Materials to Filter Ultrafine Particles at Coughing Velocity - for Home Made and Fabric Face Mask Creation
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.14.20065375

Face mask wearing rate predicts country's COVID-19 death rates: with supplementary state-by-state data in the United States
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.22.20137745

Quantifying Respiratory Airborne Particle Dispersion Control Through Improvised Reusable Masks
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.12.20152157

Who is wearing a mask? Gender-, age-, and location-related differences during the COVID-19 pandemic
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.13.20152736

Facemasks prevent influenza-like illness: implications for COVID-19
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.07.20094912

Facepiece filtering respirators with exhalation valve should not be used in the community to limit SARS-CoV-2 diffusion doi:10.1017/ice.2020.244

Medical masks and Respirators for the Protection of Healthcare Workers from SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pulmoe.2020.04.009.

Surgical mask partition reduces the risk of non-contact transmission in a golden Syrian hamster model for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),  https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa644

Aerosol filtering efficiency of respiratory face masks used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Glykeria Loupa, Dimitra Karali, SPYRIDON RAPSOMANIKIS
medRxiv 2020.07.16.20155119; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.16.20155119

Ewing E. Flu Masks Failed In 1918, But We Need Them Now | Health Affairs. Healthaffairs.org. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200508.769108/full/. 

Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering.  doi:10.1056/NEJMc2007800

Can self-imposed prevention measures mitigate the COVID-19 epidemic?
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003240

Impact of self-imposed prevention measures and short-term government-imposed social distancing on mitigating and delaying a COVID-19 epidemic: A modelling study.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003166

Face coverings – Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire. https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/face-coverings-covid-19

I received an email the other day from a client with bad news informing me that his wife has breast cancer.  He told me that she had suffered from depression ever since reluctantly moving into a property that had a severe water damage problem and that had been concealed by the real estate agent.  This got me thinking about all the research talking about mould exposure and mood disorders like anxiety and depression and even IQ.

In this week’s Livestream, I’m going to review 6 key areas where mental health problems can occur due to mould and water damage:

1. Families that know about mould and water damage

2. Disaster recovery workers 

3. The elderly

4. Children and pre-adolescents

5. The immune system.  What’s going on inside your body?

6. Tenancy

Is depression the hidden epidemic often not spoken about when discussing building-specific factors surrounding mould and adverse indoor air quality from aeroallergens and other microbes?

REFERENCES:

Literature review of current research on health effects and accepted guidelines for the management of indoor mould and water damage in the built environment. (2013). ACNEM Journal. 32(3): 10 - 16.

Neuropsychological performance of patients following mold exposure. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12584073/

The neurological significance of abnormal natural killer cell activity in chronic toxigenic mold exposures. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14625399/

Indoor mold exposure associated with neurobehavioral and pulmonary impairment: a preliminary report. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15143851/

Psychological, neuropsychological, and electrocortical effects of mixed mold exposure. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15259424/

Cognitive impairment associated with toxigenic fungal exposure: a replication and extension of previous findings. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15477176/

Interventions to improve children's health by improving the housing environment. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15742671/

Dampness and mold in the home and depression: an examination of mold-related illness and perceived control of one's home as possible depression pathways. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17761567/

Quality of life of patients with asthma related to damp and moldy work environments. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22407188/

Indoor factors and behavioural problems in children: the GINIplus and LISAplus birth cohort studies. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22487276/

Disaster-related exposures and health effects among US Coast Guard responders to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: a cross-sectional study. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25099408/

The Relationship of Built Environment to Health-Related Behaviors and Health Outcomes in Elderly Community Residents in a Middle Income Country. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26425497/

The built environment and mental health. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14709704/

Housing dampness and health amongst British Bengalis in East London. - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2305276/

Dampness and mold in the home and depression: an examination of mold-related illness and perceived control of one's home as possible depression pathw... - PubMed - NCBIhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17761567/

The validity of the environmental neurotoxic effects of
toxigenic molds and mycotoxins (2007). https://print.ispub.com/api/0/ispub-article/11373

Seasonality of births in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a review of the literature. (1997

This week I want to discuss something called: Dampness and mould hypersensitivity syndrome (DMHS) and how this is related to exposure to the indoor air dampness microbiota (DM). There have been two papers published in the last 6 months that demonstrate in two different workplaces (Hospital workers and Police officers) how their respective buildings that had long-term water damage and mould were associated with very different symptoms when compared to a control group of people who hadn't been exposed to the water damaged buildings.  These results should help anyone who is (possibly) having trouble explaining to others about the risks from water damage and mould.  The papers go into detail showing how cardiac problems as well as symptoms like multiple chemical sensitivity are very strongly associated with exposure to these toxic environments. I hope you can use these easily obtainable papers to help you convince others that mould & water damage MUST be taken seriously and not dismissed.  The data shows there is a causality between exposure to dampness microorganisms (DM) and the prevalence of multiple chemical sensitivity.  The authors conclude that adverse symptoms after exposure to DM can occur together with a range of other neurological symptoms and fatigue and is not a medically unexplained syndrome or a functional disorder.  Next time, someone tells you it's all in your head about your mould concerns, please cite this video and the research it's based on. 

REFERENCES:

Hyvönen S, Lohi J, Tuuminen T. Moist and Mold Exposure is Associated With High Prevalence of Neurological Symptoms and MCS in a Finnish Hospital Workers Cohort. Saf Health Work. 2020;11(2):173-177. doi:10.1016/j.shaw.2020.01.003

Hyvönen S, Poussa T, Lohi J, Tuuminen T. High prevalence of neurological sequelae and multiple chemical sensitivity among occupants of a Finnish police station damaged by dampness microbiota [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 16]. Arch Environ Occup Health. 2020;1-7. doi:10.1080/19338244.2020.1781034