August 20th of 1999, two young professional women, and one college female moved into a large, 5 level/split, and contemporary townhouse.  The location was excellent.  It sat on a wooded slope with a creek in the back, and less than a mile from a lake.

Moving into this townhome would be an educational experience for these women.  The get to know each other, learn to live together, and learn about the responsibilities of having a home.  A wonderful relationship would ensue where three cultures would be learn, and three young women would learn to take care of each other.

A tight bond developed due to the need for taking care of eachother.  That need continued to develop and escalate as the weeks passed.  Griega had developed severe migraines.  India found herself developing hacking coughs and fevers overnight, and not be able to rid herself of her cough for weeks.  Gracie really feel ill, and the prognosis would take time.  Eventually the fourth roommate, Angel, would experience the same symptoms as Greece and India shortly after moving in.

Recently more publications are being made in regards to families, which develop illness that the source of was explainable by doctors.  Usually there would be respiratory conditions, with some other variety of symptoms.  It isn’t until situations become severe that doctors are finally able to discovery what the cause may be.  The most recent publicized case, the children had sinus infections or developed asthma, the father had a severe pulmonary problem which nearly killed him.

How do you fight an enemy, which is 115,000 of an inch across, has tiny hair-like tentacles, which penetrate and absorb moisture?  How about one that becomes airborn and can reproduce a colony in an hour after finding a new surface?

The young lady who was constantly struggling in the new townhouse had a multitude of symptoms.  Doctors visits would not come to any concrete solutions, or even address what may have been causing the deluge of problems.  What did the doctors have to go on?  This woman had lived for 15 years in Virginia, so she wasn’t exposed to anything new.  She suffered from sinus infections, sore and raw throat, lethargy, swelling of the eyes, rashes all over, and other smaller problems.  So there were a host of temporary solutions given.

The occupants of the townhouse loved their new home.  They threw a housewarming and gave tours of there home proudly showing off how they had used the space.  The lower level of the basement was empty, except for some boxes and bikes stored down there.  The basement just hadn’t been a priority, and with the coldness of the room despite the carpeting they just avoided it.  Ms. Greece and Canada had found that they would get runny nosey and scratchy throats from going down there, so that kept them from cleaning that part of the house.  This may just have contributed to the problem.

Late into fall their neighbor complained about water damage in their home on the main level.  The ladies checked all the levels, and only found that after the recent storms the basement carpet was damp, and there was a slight mustiness about it.  They contacted the owner with the news about the neighbor and their findings.

Ms. Canada had been missing a lot of work that fall, and finally had a terrible episode.  Determined that there was something seriously wrong she walked straight into the doctors office and let it be known she wouldn’t leave without answers after 5 weeks of visits.  What triggered her?  She had experienced temporary vision loss while driving to work that morning.

The doctors placed her on a regiment of decongestants due to the sinus infection, and steroids to clear everything else up.  Another temporary solution to treat the symptoms, but she was also scheduled to visit an allergist.

Life became livable once the allergist prescribed medication.  Again it was to treat the symptoms, not cure the problem.  Out of 100 items she reacted to 87% of them.  Virginia was no longer friendly to her body, as well as almost every grain and meat product available.

The problem still hadn’t been addressed.  Only one of four people living in the household was being cared for.  So the rainy days continued to bring on migraines for some, cough for others, and for Ms. Canada just another dose of medicine.

What did they do wrong?  Well, somewhere someone should have noted that this was not a single individual and that there had to be a greater problem like in the story with the family.  Help did not come to that family until the father suffered pulmonary failure.  Then they discovered the truth.  Mold can kill.

Strange that we think of mold as the mushrooms in the yard, the moss on trees, the stuff in the shower you spray down and wash away.  Mold is a severe environmental hazard to people and animals.  In extreme cases as the two outlined, it caused severe health problems for the individuals exposed.  Farmers are familiar with these diseases because of the amount of mold they are exposed to due to their profession.

What those three young women, and one young man did not realize was that the musty odor in the basement and the damp feel of carpet after rain, turned into live mold whose spores became airborne when they walked on the carpet.  These spores were then carried on their person or clothing to the upper levels of living space.  The mold was growing and expanding its coverage.

They were fortunate because the military owner returned earlier and asked to move back in.  So now in much better health, these four young individuals are mostly cured of their previous ailments.  Prolonged exposure may have left a more permanent make.  The father in the family has permanent lung damage, and one of his sons now has severe asthma.  Every ones immunity is at a different level.  Ms. Canada still has allergies, but she now eats a number of the food items that before would give her a reaction, and she now spend a lot of times outdoors working out and camping.

There are methods to know if your home has a problem.  We just have to be more aware of our environment.  Cleaning in the traditional sense in these situations is not enough.  As these people learned; vacuuming can spread the mold, not all cleaning agents can kill mold, and cleaning has to be done to a more complete and extreme nature.

The family whose father ended up in the hospital actual had contractors go through and clean the home.  That required the family to be away, carpets, furniture, clothes, and many other things to be thrown away.  The rest of the home had to be washed with harsh detergents not just once, but many times to eradicate the mold which survives off of the water in the mixture.

Warning signs that mold may be a problem in your household:
- Musty smell
- Humidity/Moisture inside
- Visible mold
- Headaches, nausea, tiredness, asthma, sneezing, itchy eyes, runny nosy
(All of which are alleviated once you leave the house).

You can obtain information from the CDC (Center for Disease Control), but the cleanup and cost will be up to you.