� Standard: CMV, EBV, IgG sub1-4 and normal RBC/WBC. For general guide in diagnosis consult Merck Manual, Coccidioidomycosis, Section: Diagnosis Pg. 1215
Contaminated Homes And Health
The myth that smaller and more confined spaces created by construction changes in building design are at fault for the sudden increase in construction defect cases involving water intrusion and mold infestation is just that, myth! Or at least generally stated as a myth. Mold problems involving private homes and public buildings have been an ongoing plague since man began living under covered shelter first recorded in biblical times. However in all fairness to this myth, newer construction with more confined spacing and building material changes designed to keep warm insulated air contained in the fall and winter months and cooler airflow inside in the spring and summer months has contributed to greater retention of condensation moisture, faster microbial infestation, increased levels and types of volatile organic compounds produced by microbes and other inorganic materials, and as such offers a greater potential for rapid deterioration of plumbing and household materials.
In the mid-1980s, during double-digit inflation construction of new homes and commercial buildings called for less airflow per cubic feet per person, reducing the breathing space within a dwelling from about 20 cubic feet to approximately 5 cubic feet. It is also true that even though breathing space decreased the number of people sharing a smaller, more confined living or working quarters actually increased as building and maintenance costs escalated and the cost of living increased tremendously affecting in many venues of living and lifestyle. What is factual, is that private homes and commercial buildings constructed with building materials that molds use as nutrient sources when higher temperatures mix with higher indoor moisture certainly light a fire under the �Construction Defects� controversy leading to the present myth at hand. But, closer scrutiny into the background of molds and ecology reveals that many illnesses were caused by indoor mold contamination down throughout the ages, and this is problem of the ages and not strictly confined to one specific era in the evolution of mankind as we know it.
In ecology, molds are perhaps the most dominate microbes to rule the earth. Nearly every species of life falls prey to molds, including bacteria and viruses. This is what the �Carbon Cycle,� or �Dust-to-Dust� in �layman�s� terms is all about. In the world of ecology it is the duty of molds to preserve their own species and to create life from the decay of life. Certain mold species are perhaps as old as the earliest stages of life formation and were genetically adapted to the dynamic physical and climatic rigors of environmental changes on earth long before animals, including man, ever stepped foot on living soil. In fact, nearly every living facet of man involves living, breathing microbes. Living cells are microbes in man that compose the immune system and every bodily organ and tissue belonging to man. It is therefore only natural that man would attract molds, bacteria, viruses and other microbial entities because animals and man have emerged as walking incubators for such inhabitation.

The peculiar bedfellows that man and microbes have become is intriguing at best, because herein we have species cohabitating in what scientists refer to as a �symbiotic� (or mutually beneficial and harmonious) state, but yet will ultimately end up in a bitter internal war in which molds always emerge as the victor. You see, molds do not die really; they just die until moisture is added to the right temperature and then they miraculously come back to life! Even if they are burned in a fire, they end up as minute particles that suspend in space until they are revived. Human ashes spread at sea reemerge as eventual mold and bacterial microbes to graze once again upon the earth.
We realize that this seems like an awful lot of bad news to absorb! But transversely, the good news is that molds along with other microbes that are collectively known as �flora� actually orchestrate a harmonious life process that does not intentionally desire to wreak havoc on its animal and human hosts (as we are known in science). No…, what we as humans do is create certain external and internal environmental conditions out of lifestyle behavior and conditioning that weakens our body functioning to a point where molds begin to sense that their compatible environment is no longer safe and secure.

This might occur through consumption of microbial infested food, beverage, and organic products that serve as unhealthy nutrients which accumulatively signal the weakening and eventual death of body cells as our bodies start the aging process or gradually become ill. Additionally, changes to our external environment that allow mold species that normally do not adapt to or invade animal or human habitats might start to invade and take up temporary residence thereby disturbing the biological balance or as science states it, the �equilibrium� of nature that animal or man has adapted to and been regulated by throughout life.

So as we can surmise from all of this is that building construction modifications over the past two decades have contributed somewhat to the overall scope of increased incidents of illnesses referred to as �sick building syndrome� whereby the causes of various symptoms and ailments are not readily identified or known, or �building related illnesses� whereby the cause has been established and verified, but such modifications are not wholly responsible for the crisis that is emerging. So the question remains (to dispel the myth), what is causing us to suddenly realize the deadly health potential of molds that have been in and out of our bodies in large numbers for years. And, we do mean large numbers! It is estimated that we take in and release more than 16,000 quarts of air per day. Each quart averages approximately 70,000 visible and non-visible particles. In multiplying 16, 000 quarts times 70,000 particles in a 24 hour period, that sums to an astronomical figure of over 11, 200,000 billion particles consumed or absorbed daily.

What is even more remarkable is that the human body is in contact with over 3,000 pathogenic microbe species daily that potentially could kill a person swiftly, and yet the human immune system (which we have coined as the animal and human�s internal version of mold species) handles all of this with relative ease. That is, when biological harmony is synchronized and working according to plan. Another little tidbit of information is that the most harmful forms of microbes or microbial particles are three microns or less in size. The human eye cannot even see a microbe that size. In fact, the minimal visually adaptive size at which a microbe can be seen without the use of a microscope is at least 10 microns in diameter. To put all of this into prospective, the size of a general US postage stamp is 25,400 microns in size, and depending on the size of various microbes placed on it would be capable of holding from 1 million to a billion microbes within its borders. According to scientists studying such factors, approximately 98-99 percent of all microbial particles fall in the range of 5 microns in diameter or less. These particles tend to remain in suspension or settle so slowly that only high quality air cleaners are effective in removing them. Very small particles can remain in the air we breathe virtually until they are absorbed or inhaled by animals or humans.

So why is it that the legal system is overburdened with �mold litigation,� more so than ever before if it is not solely based on building products and materials and more confined construction?

It is because science over the last 16 years has literally advanced in coalition with advanced technology to literally a threshold equated to that of the �speed of light� in scientific terms. With the advent of highly advanced scientific instrumentation and testing devices scientists are now observing physically the genetic, metabolic and physical properties that less than two decades ago was unobtainable. Researchers are advancing and communicating around the globe �broad-based� through the use of the Internet and other communication entities on a moment-to-moment basis as opposed to annual conventions and symposiums of yesteryear. College and university students are being highly trained more in tune with this expansion and professors that once followed a strict outdated curriculum practice are now being forced to keep abreast of the latest scientific advancements in relating factually-based data academically, or face extinction in a world that is advancing with or without them. We are entering the 21st century of science of shared global information, and it is in and of itself bringing us closer to our own reality in dispelling the myths between microbes and our earthly environment.