The Gulf Coast is facing a potential financial and legal morass over mold blooming inside storm-damaged buildings, according to scientists, contractors and insurance experts.
Mold has grown thickly on wet walls, rugs and furniture of thousands of buildings -- and the problem will worsen as flood waters recede.
Restoration workers are pouring into the Gulf Coast.
"There's an Oklahoma land stampede down there," said John Shane, a manager for Environmental Microbiology Laboratory Inc. in Chicago.
Some molds cause structural problems such as dry rot, requiring the replacement of wood. The biggest problem, however, involves the widespread, but unsubstantiated, contentions that some molds can cause serious health problems.
"There's a real industry being created around the mold problem -- lawyers who've written about it call it 'black gold.' They see it as the next great asbestos," said Dr. Dorsett Smith, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. "It is the fear factor. You mention the word 'mold' and people are afraid."
Mold is a general term for a group of thousands of different fungi, including \o7Penicillium\f7, original source of the antibiotic penicillin, and \o7Stachybotrys chartarum\f7, a black fungus with a fearsome reputation for its supposed effects on people's health.
Mold spores are always in the air, but they only germinate when there is enough warmth and moisture, such as from burst water pipes, condensation, storm damage or flooding.
Feeding on the cellulose in wall board, ceiling tiles and wood, they grow into long microscopic strands, spawning millions of new spores that people can inhale.
Publicity about \o7Stachybotrys\f7\o7 \f7has created an industry for removing "toxic black mold."
In extreme cases, the presence of the mold has caused people to abandon their homes and remove the earth beneath them because of their fear of sickness.
The presence of \o7Stachybotrys\f7\o7 \f7has resulted in multimillion-dollar judgments against insurers and contractors.
Scientists say that molds can cause some health problems. In 2004, a report from the National Academy of Sciences concluded that indoor mold can exacerbate symptoms such as upper respiratory irritation, coughing and wheezing in people with asthma.
In rare cases, it can cause a flu-like immune disorder known as hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
