Decontamination to Kill for Most people will decide on decontamination of their home based on their perception of the mould risk.
They believe some moulds like Stachybotrys can cause serious illness and even some mycologists and those that should know better put in their reports ‘’The Toxic mould Stachybotrys was or wasn’t present’’. They apparently believe this is the only harmful mould in the water damaged home but the reality there are hundreds of different species capable of harm on their own, but also in synergy with other likely contaminates present, the hazard can explode in terms of risk and hazard.
The focus by the public and mould removal ‘’EXPERTS’’ has historically been on mould but bacteria chemical toxins and other contaminates can be an even greater heath risk.
Killing mould is usually the advertising banner of decontamination experts and many companies promote their services to kill mould. The reality is they don’t work, and a graphic example is the works of the scientist Wilson et al who submerged mould in bleach for hours only to see it re grow days later.
The emphasis here is usually on killing mould or their spores. Killing spores is sometimes possible but the remnant of the dead spore is stated as being 40 times more harmful than the live whole spore. (Ref WHO)
More importantly the mould spore fragments is capable of bypassing all human defences and entering the blood stream through the lower respiratory system and significantly increases the risk of breaking through the Blood Brain barrier. Neurotoxins are of great concern, and many will recognise the effects of mycotoxins but these are now seen as relatively low risk against the emerging hazards now being identified.
Before I go further, I will offer simple analogies.
If you develop a blood, stomach or gut infection the doctor will probably prescribe differing antibiotics. The reason is the differing antibiotics will have different effect on target organisms. The same logic can be applied to mould and bacteria in the home. Different forms of contamination may require differing approaches.
You know that taking antibiotics can destroy or damage your own immune system for a period of 12 months before it returns to normal. You might develop new symptoms after taking antibiotics. The logic here is that antibiotics may kill the target bacteria but also destroy the plentiful good bacteria. This imbalance must be presumed to allow non target, but bad bacteria which is always present but normally in competition, the opportunity to flourish.
Getting back to mould now we see the Dry Fog or Bio Sweep type fast ‘decontamination’’ protocols simply unbalance the biological flora in the home. While these systems use Hydrogen Peroxide and ozone to act on contamination, and their efficacy in a laboratory is accepted, it would be impossible to remove all pathogens present from the short exposure times and levels provided within a few hours.
The result is imbalance between possibly toxic moulds and competing bacteria.
Studies now show this unbalancing of even the most toxic mould environment can result in previously unrecognised but extremely toxic bacteria flourishing because they have no adequate competition.
You probably know that moulds and bacteria are natural enemies with Penicillium fighting bacteria and typically Streptomyces bacteria fighting mould or fungal infection. The end game here is after partial killing of normally balanced bacteria the result is proliferation of some species known to be carcinogenic and with toxigenic fragments and inflammagens, the home becomes a greater risk than before irresponsible decontamination.
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