House Study: Aspergillus

KimS · 10-15-2006, 07:25 AM

This isn't food... but too interesting to pass up. So I thought I'd make a new study series just for our homes.

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/...eases/pillows/

Quote:

Invasive Aspergillosis occurs mainly in the lungs and sinuses, although it can spread to other organs such as the brain, and is becoming increasingly common across other patient groups. It is very difficult to treat, and as many as 1 in 25 patients who die in modern European teaching hospitals have the disease.

Who knew???

Quote:

Aspergillus can also worsen asthma, particularly in adults who have had asthma for many years, and cause allergic sinusitis in patients with allergic tendencies. Constant exposure to fungus in bed could be problematic. It can also get into the lung cavities created by tuberculosis which affects a third of the world's population, causing general ill-health and bleeding in the lung, as well as causing a range of plant and animal diseases.

annelb · 10-15-2006, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Each pillow was found to contain a substantial fungal load

Eeeeewwwww - I knew that our pillows were full of dust mites but never knew about the fungus

Mites and fungus - and they lived happy ever after.

Quote:

"We know that pillows are inhabited by the house dust mite which eats fungi, and one theory is that the fungi are in turn using the house dust mites' feces as a major source of nitrogen and nutrition (along with human skin scales). There could therefore be a 'miniature ecosystem' at work inside our pillows."

http://allergies.about.com/od/molds/...lows101405.htm

I am happy I just replaced my bed pillows.
Anne

KimS · 10-15-2006, 09:58 AM

Yes, ds is coughing a bit at night. I just bought him a new anti-'bug' pillow... but he doesn't end up sleeping in his bed, he ends up either with us or his sister.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I can treat our other pillows because they were quite pricey and in excellent condition.

Maybe I want a new front loading washer and am building up a case for it.

canoe · 10-15-2006, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KimS

Yes, ds is coughing a bit at night. I just bought him a new anti-'bug' pillow... but he doesn't end up sleeping in his bed, he ends up either with us or his sister.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I can treat our other pillows because they were quite pricey and in excellent condition.

Maybe I want a new front loading washer and am building up a case for it.

Kim,

For the other pillows have you considered getting some of the pillow covers that are used for dust mite allergies?http://www.allergycontrolproducts.com/

I have used these for years and my nightime coughing has been considerably less.

Hope this helps.

Marilyn

NancyM · 10-15-2006, 11:07 AM

Yeah, pillow covers! I need to get some of those. I'm an awful drooler and I hate to think what my drool is feeding in my pillow.

KimS · 10-15-2006, 11:26 AM

http://www.aspergillus.org.uk/indexh...kova.html~main

Quote:

In general, it is thought that the amount of Aspergillus sp. germs is higher in indoor air than outdoors at any given time. In the home, the amount of spores in the air is markedly increased when the cleaning is carried out mechanically, for example, when carpets are vacuum cleaned.

Perhaps gluten plays a roll?

Quote:

A. clavatus is often associated with allergic alveolitis (hypersensitivity pneumonia) in workers of malthouses (Reynolds, 1991) . >Minimum awvalue for its growth is 0.85.

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiol...ecosystem.html

Quote:

Synthetic pillows carried more fungi, the study concluded. Other species uncovered include fungi normally found in bread and in showers.

Dr. Mercola says:

Quote:

In the meantime rather than using toxic approaches, I believe there is a better solution. I recommend using a mechanical barrier and purchasing a high quality water, mold and spore proof pillow cover (not pillow case) that you can wash regularly (even with a bleach) to keep it clean. You can even purchase new pillows every year as they are relatively inexpensive.

Here's a blog from someone who was trying to find these covers:

http://ter-p.jiduf.org/

Dr. Richard Petty says: (although the study said synthetic pillows were worse... maybe he was reading a different article?):

http://richardgpettymd.blogs.com/my_..._contamin.html

Quote:

If you have allergies, it is best to use foam rather than feather pillows. If you have synthetic pillows, wash them regularly in warm water and with a non-allergenic detergent. Dip the pillow one small section at a time in the solution and squeeze through the pillow. Once the pillow is clean, rinse it out at least three times to remove all of the soap and residue. Then lie the pillow out flat to dry, and turn it frequently. To fluff the pillow, take a couple of tennis balls and put them in the dryer with the pillow and air dry for about 30 minutes.

http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/113/110842.htm

Quote:

Though feather pillows do carry a lot of fungi, they don't carry as much or as many different types as synthetic pillows, Woodcock's team reports in the current online issue of the journal Allergy.

Quote:

My reaction is, 'Ho-hum. We knew this already," Beckett tells WebMD. "We culture fungus from all over the home. Wherever you look, they are there." Beckett is not entirely reassuring.
"You can find these things everywhere and we don't know how to eradicate them," he says. "There is a sense that indoor exposure to fungi may make allergies and asthma worse for some people. We are trying to find out what we can do about this, but we don't yet know."

KimS · 10-15-2006, 11:43 AM

Thank you kindly Marilyn,

I have three covers on each pillow. 1) dust mite; 2) padded protector; 3) pillow slip.... and then the pillow cases over those.

Although I just had a thought... we've just finished a dairy challenge and he's just started coughing... HMMMM... I keep saying he doesn't react to goat dairy BUT........HMMMM.

We'll be doing another goat dairy challenge at Christmas. If I can get rid of his cough and then it comes back then... I think I will have my answer.

Come to think of it, my chest has been a bit tight since was did the goat dairy challenge last week... Hmmmm

Quote:

Originally Posted by canoe

Kim,

For the other pillows have you considered getting some of the pillow covers that are used for dust mite allergies?http://www.allergycontrolproducts.com/

I have used these for years and my nightime coughing has been considerably less.

Hope this helps.

Marilyn

KimS · 10-15-2006, 11:54 AM

http://www.doctorfungus.org/mycoses/...ergillosis.htm

good read

mistofviolets · 10-15-2006, 02:05 PM

Umm...Aspergillus *is* in the food supply.

Its commonly found in corn. and Aspergillus niger is fermented to create citric acid ("no corn protein left") leading some of us well-read corn sufferers to wonder if its really corn or the aspergillus attacking us?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid

Quote:

In 1917, the American food chemist James Currie discovered that certain strains of the mold Aspergillus niger could be efficient citric acid producers, and Pfizer began industrial-level production using this technique two years later.

There are different strains of aspergillus, some toxic and some not toxic (IE, safe for human exposure)

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medi...p?newsid=28830

Quote:

The remedy may lie in the idea of US researchers Dr. Peter J. Cotty, which is both simple and ingenious. "In addition to the dangerous strain aspergillus flavus there are also others which cannot produce any toxin," the Bonn plant pathologist Dr. Sebastian Kiewnick explains. "Cotty propagated this non-toxic strain of aspergillus on grains of corn and spread the mould-infected grains in fields of cotton. As a result, the non-toxic strain was present in substantially larger amounts and was thus able to almost entirely supplant the toxic variety." The success was overwhelming: aflatoxin infection of the cotton cobs dropped from an average of 1,000 ppb (parts per billion) to below 20 ppb, thereby lying within the US safety limit for animal food - cotton seeds serve as food e.g. for dairy cattle.

Quote:

"It can scarcely be prevented that maize or nuts will be infected to a certain extent with brown mould," Sebastian Kiewnick emphasises. "We can only influence which strain of aspergillus grows on it: a dangerous producer of toxins - or the non-toxic variant."

KimS · 10-15-2006, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistofviolets

Umm...Aspergillus *is* in the food supply.

Oh, pardon me!

I stand corrected.

I know that well enough to have posted it in the eosinophils thread.
http://forums.braintalk2.org/showthread.php?t=3797

I'm very sorry about that... Thank you very much for catching it Mist.

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