Good Morning,

This week's photo is of ascospores, from the University of Alberta's website.

Coming soon: reviews of: My Office is Killing Me! by Jeffrey May, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006; The Triumph of the Fungi - A Rotten History, by Nicholas P. Money, PhD, Oxford University Press, 2007.

Hot tips on mold? Please e- mail them to Cynthia A. Coulter Mulvihill at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black mold may cause stuffy nose, irritated eyes, wheezing or skin irritation. People allergic to mold may experience breathing difficulties, and those with weak immune systems and chronic lung diseases may develop infections.

Click here for DSU says poor design to blame for black mold (The News Journal, DE - Sep 16, 2006)

The doctor gave him pills. Nothing changed. They took out part of his stomach, removed some gallstones. But the grinding ache persisted.

Picture: Graphic representation of Methyl chloride.

Click here for Bad water - Sick Nicor workers believe their chronic illnesses were caused by faulty plumbing (Aurora Beacon News, IL - Sep 17, 2006)

"The main reason my clients decided to take this to trial, is that the money was coming out of their pockets," explains Santa Ana, California defense attorney Kevin J. Gramling, an expert in toxic tort litigation. "All they had was content insurance. My clients did have liability insurance, but the main issue with the insurance carrier was that the allegations were of an intentional nature (fraud and misrepresentation), such that they denied coverage."

Photo: Attorney Kevin Gramling

Click here for Attorney Wins Failure To Disclose Toxic Mold Case For Seller (Realty Times, TX - Aug 20, 2006)

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.

Photo: Ascospores

Click here for Rains breed moldy month for Alaska - ANCHORAGE: Allergy sufferers can blame wet September for their misery. (Anchorage Daily News, AK - Sep 17, 2006)

After treatment, all organisms were tested for colony growth using an agar plating technique. Colonies of S. chartarum were also tested for toxicity using a yeast toxicity assay with a high specificity for trichothecene mycotoxins. Results showed that chlorine dioxide gas at both concentrations completely inactivated all organisms except for C. globosum colonies which were inactivated an average of 89%. More than 99% of ascospores of C. globosum were nonculturable. For all ascospore counts, mean test readings were lower than the controls (P < 0.001), indicating that some ascospores may also have been destroyed. Colonies of S. chartarum were still toxic after treatment. These data show that chlorine dioxide gas can be effective to a degree as a fumigant for the inactivation of certain fungal colonies, that the perithecia of C. globosum can play a slightly protective role for the ascospores and that S. chartarum, while affected by the fumigation treatment, still remains toxic.

Photo: Chaetomium globosum

Click here for Mold Education: Effect of chlorine dioxide gas on fungi and mycotoxins associated with sick building syndrome. (Appl Environ Microbiol. 2005 Sep;71(9):5399-403)

The fungus ball was successfully treated by intracavitary administration of amphotericin B. C. zonatum is the anamorph of the heterothallic ascomycete Uncinocarpus orissi, and the identity of the case isolate was verified by formation of ascospores in mating tests with reference isolates.

Photo: Chrysosporium spp.

Click here for Mold Education: Pulmonary colonization by Chrysosporium zonatum associated with allergic inflammation in an immunocompetent subject. (J Clin Microbiol. 2002 Mar;40(3):1113-5)

He also said he is dismayed that the County Commission was not told about the issue in which Clerk and Master Lee Akers brought in an outside firm to test for mold in his office and the chancery judges later put down an order withholding over half a million dollars of office excess fees to cover possible moving costs.

The files had been kept off-site at a North Queen Street facility known as Records Storage Management. The county pays the agency to store more than 100,000 documents from the Circuit Clerk and various other offices. Last month alone, commissioners paid the agency $1,851.40 to store files for the county clerk, purchase orders show.

School officials found mold in the school's basement in late July in an air-conditioning unit and on a ceiling tile in a storage room, said schools spokesman Steve Doremus.

The company forecast third-quarter net sales of $3.1 million to $3.6 million, but now believes net sales will be $2.1 million to $2.3 million for the quarter, which ends Sept. 30.

Click here for Mold & Investment: American Mold Guard lowers 3Q net sales forecast (Reuters - Sep 13, 2006)

Ms. Mulvihill's confidential services include, depending on who she is retained by, and when:

• Analysis of property damage and personal injuries
• Conducting a property inspection
• Reviewing medical records
• Determination of the potential for a causal link between mycological issues and personal injuries
• Research of what needs to be done to prove -- or disprove -- property damage, personal injuries, and their causal links
• Determination what entity or entities might have caused property damage
• Reviewing insurance policies to determine if insurance coverage is available for the claims
• Determination what kind of expert or experts need to be retained to prove or disprove a case
• Preparation of expert witnesses for depositions
• Preparation of written discovery
• Preparation of attorneys for questioning of expert witnesses

Click here for Mold Professionals: Cynthia Coulter Mulvihill (Mold Litigation Consulting)