As Northern Virginians work to dry out rugs and flooded basements after record-setting rains, Fairfax County health officials have released information for residents concerned about an increase of household mold spores associated with water damage.
"We get a lot of questions about mold and people become alarmed when they see it in their homes and what effect this could have on their health," said John Yetman, an environmental health specialist with Fairfax County’s Department of Health. "We’re trying to get some of those questions answered … and explain to people that it’s not necessarily a dire situation."
Mold begins to form when a surface that is not meant to be wet is exposed to water for an extended period of time — as in a flood — allowing for spores already in the air to grow, according to the health department. Then more spores are released into the air, inhaled by anyone in its vicinity and causing some people to develop irritation.
Symptoms of mold irritation include red, itchy eyes; increased coughing or a higher level of stress while breathing; an increased number of asthma attacks in asthma patients and rashes on the skin, according to Pat Wilfond, a respiratory specialist at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
"The time when you have large mold problems is when you have flooding," Yetman said.
"The most profound effects are for people who have allergies to mold, and this creates an increased factor of mold that they have to deal with and the body might not be able to handle it," he added. "This is an alien organism that your body has to propel, and in a home where there’s substantial amounts of mold spores in the air, the body must work even harder to deflect them."
THOSE WHO ARE at the highest risk include people with allergies to mold, people living with asthma and children, elderly people and people who are already ill, Wilfond said.
Mold "can cause significant irritation in those who are allergic to it … and act as a trigger for asthma," Wilfond said. "Some people are more sensitive to mold spores … there are some people who it won’t bother at all while others will walk into an area with a high number of spores and be really affected, and those people need to know how to protect themselves from this."
"I’ve had patients admitted [to the hospital] who are having something trigger asthma attacks and we try and see what it is and many times it comes back that there is an increased level of mold in the house," she said.
Wilfond said that residents with a compromised immune system are vulnerable to developing Aspergillus Fumigatus, an infection where fungus begins to develop in the lungs.
It’s not just in homes, she added. Water damage in schools and office buildings can result in an increased level of irritation for those sensitive to airborne spores.
While mold ranks behind cigarette smoke, dust mites and animal dander as the most common causes of irritation, Wilfond said that it is still a very common problem in the patients that she treats.
"Sometimes people don’t even know it until they come in and they realize that, yeah, mold is a problem," she said.
THE BEST WAY to eliminate mold is to remove all water-damaged material and use dehumidifiers to dry out wet indoor areas, according to official information released by the Fairfax County Health Department.
"Any time a home has significant water intrusion, you have a problem of mold growth, and until you stop that water intrusion, it’s not going to go away," Yetman said. "Our homes weren’t built to be wet, so anytime we have wetness, these buildings are susceptible to [supporting] mold growth."
Mold growth, which is most commonly found near leaking windows or flooded basements, resembles a stain of spilled cola present on a moist surface, Yetman said.
If a resident suspects that mold is in his or her home or business because of increased allergic irritation but doesn’t see any mold, he or she could enlist the assistance of a private water damage consultant to look for the mold, Yetman said. If mold is visible, the area should be dried out and the damaged material removed.
Residents who live on rental property who are concerned about the presence of mold from water damage should contact their landlord about repairs, he added. Fairfax County has the authority to require landlords to fix water-damaged material in homes.