New Orleans Mold

I live in the New Orleans area.  I had a mold problem due to roof failure.  I decided to try a chlorine dioxide treatment in which the house was tented and fumigated with this gas. After the treatment, I still wanted to remove sheetrock in areas easily accessible.  In doing so, I uncovered mold.  The company maintains that it is nonviable.  Also of concern is the treatment would seemingly not remove the spores that were in the air prior to the treatment.  My count was 20,000.  If I perform another air cell sampling, wouldn’t the count still be the same except that perhaps the spores are nonviable?  How can I prove or disprove the effectiveness of their treatment which was 9000 ppm for 3 hours?  The complicating factor seems to be that normal outside air which contains viable spores but at much lower levels would render any testing ineffective.  Since it’s been 2 months since the treatment, they are implying that somehow if I still have a problem, it would relate to that fact.-Malcolm, Louisiana

 

            Chlorine dioxide can be a very effective disinfectant.  It is widely used in water treatment plants to kill chlorine-resistant bacteria.  It was the disinfectant of choice in killing anthrax spores in the Hart Senate Office Building in our nation’s capitol as well as the Brentwood postal facility.  I am not familiar with the dose required for anthrax spore disinfection but 9000 ppm (~ 1% chlorine dioxide) appears to be enough to kill a variety of microorganisms.

            This is the first I heard of a chlorine dioxide fumigation for mold, but I suppose that because of the significant mold problems that exist post-Katrina that such fumigations are not uncommon.  They have the potential for killing most mold spores as well as mycelia growing in a building structure if the application is done correctly.

There is, however, one major problem; that is, killing mold is not enough.  Dead mold spores are just as allergenic as live mold spores.  Dead spores and mycelia of toxigenic mold species such as Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus versicolor are just as toxic as live ones.  To my knowledge no disinfectant including chlorine dioxide can destroy mycotoxins.

An indoor mold count of 20,000 spores is relatively high and if not affected by high seasonal outdoor mold represents a potentially significant mold exposure problem and respiratory health risk.  If you conduct additional sampling using total mold spore sampling procedures, it is likely that the count will be still high.

If you removed sheetrock in one area and discovered mold, it is likely that you will find mold on sheetrock in other areas as well.  Unfortunately to reduce potentially significant mold exposure problems in your house, you are going to have to locate and remove heavily mold infested materials (particularly sheetrock).

 

March 31, 2006