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May 16, 2001
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) – In usually dry West Texas, a potentially fatal black mold has forced at least 19 families to evacuate their homes and move into hotel rooms.
Ashley Gabbert has lived at the Residence Inn with her husband and three children for three months since they discovered their Lubbock home was caked with black stachybotrys mold.
The estimate to rid the home of the mold is $58,000, Gabbert said. “It’s kind of stressful but we’re trying to make the best of it,” she said.
The mold’s potential health effects range from cold- and allergy-like symptoms to skin rashes, inflammation of the respiratory tract, bloody noses, fever, headaches, malaise, neurological problems and suppression of the immune system.
A particularly rainy year has caused stachybotrys outbreaks in some Southern states.
Stachybotrys mold is not rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, but the CDC has no accurate information on how often it is found in homes and other buildings.
Molds of any type, including stachybotrys, simply need moisture and something such as wood or paper to grow on, said Dr. David Straus, a microbiologist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and an expert on indoor air pollution caused by molds.
“The molds don’t care where the water comes from,” he said. “A leaky roof can do it. It can be a high water table. All that matters is that building materials get wet. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a desert or the most humid place on earth.”
He said stachybotrys cases are not on the rise, but local media reports have heightened awareness of the problem.
Black mold has been found across the country on university and school campuses, in courthouses and fire stations, even in a day-care center under construction for children of U.S. Senate employees.
The Gabberts bought their home from another family about 18 months ago, just after Ashley Gabbert became pregnant with her now 10-month-old son. She took headache medication nearly every day and wonders whether she and her child suffered ill effects from the mold.
Her 2-year-old son has been hospitalized twice with respiratory problems.
She said she and the older son feel much better now that she’s not breathing in mold spores.
“It’s been probably a month since I’ve taken a Tylenol,” Gabbert said Monday. The family may stay at the hotel for four more months.
Above normal rainfall in many parts of West Texas in recent months, on top of heavy snowfall last winter, could have raised the region’s water table, Straus said.
Lubbock County officials reported that black mold had been found in the sheriff’s office in April. Eight county employees had to be relocated.
To rid a home of the mold, the source of the moisture first must be eliminated. The mold then must be removed using a bleach-like solution and all the damaged materials – sometimes including walls, ceilings and carpets – must be torn out and replaced.
In Gabbert’s case, wood framing must be cleaned and treated with a sealant.
Replies
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May 16, 2001
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - In usually dry West Texas, a potentially fatal black mold has forced at least 19 families to evacuate their homes and move into hotel rooms.
Ashley Gabbert has lived at the Residence Inn with her husband and three children for three months since they discovered their Lubbock home was caked with black stachybotrys mold.
The estimate to rid the home of the mold is $58,000, Gabbert said. "It's kind of stressful but we're trying to make the best of it," she said.
The mold's potential health effects range from cold- and allergy-like symptoms to skin rashes, inflammation of the respiratory tract, bloody noses, fever, headaches, malaise, neurological problems and suppression of the immune system.
A particularly rainy year has caused stachybotrys outbreaks in some Southern states.
Stachybotrys mold is not rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, but the CDC has no accurate information on how often it is found in homes and other buildings.
Molds of any type, including stachybotrys, simply need moisture and something such as wood or paper to grow on, said Dr. David Straus, a microbiologist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and an expert on indoor air pollution caused by molds.
"The molds don't care where the water comes from," he said. "A leaky roof can do it. It can be a high water table. All that matters is that building materials get wet. It doesn't matter if it's in a desert or the most humid place on earth."
He said stachybotrys cases are not on the rise, but local media reports have heightened awareness of the problem.
Black mold has been found across the country on university and school campuses, in courthouses and fire stations, even in a day-care center under construction for children of U.S. Senate employees.
The Gabberts bought their home from another family about 18 months ago, just after Ashley Gabbert became pregnant with her now 10-month-old son. She took headache medication nearly every day and wonders whether she and her child suffered ill effects from the mold.
Her 2-year-old son has been hospitalized twice with respiratory problems.
She said she and the older son feel much better now that she's not breathing in mold spores.
"It's been probably a month since I've taken a Tylenol," Gabbert said Monday. The family may stay at the hotel for four more months.
Above normal rainfall in many parts of West Texas in recent months, on top of heavy snowfall last winter, could have raised the region's water table, Straus said.
Lubbock County officials reported that black mold had been found in the sheriff's office in April. Eight county employees had to be relocated.
To rid a home of the mold, the source of the moisture first must be eliminated. The mold then must be removed using a bleach-like solution and all the damaged materials - sometimes including walls, ceilings and carpets - must be torn out and replaced.
In Gabbert's case, wood framing must be cleaned and treated with a sealant.