Potentially millions of unaware Australians, including our kids, are at risk of serious illness by this silent and sometimes invisible home invasion; Mould.
Recent discoveries in medical science have expanded our understanding of the detrimental effects that mould is having on the lives of Australians.
From mild fatigue to life threatening disease, we are now finding that a wide array of illnesses can be attributed to mould in the home which has led to a recent Australian parliamentary inquiry led my Federal MP Lucy Wicks who was once debilitated by a mould inflicted syndrome.
We’ve also seen a huge growth in demand online for DIY mould testing kits. These kits allow you to take swabs of your home and send them away to be lab analysed, saving Australians thousands in home consults and keeping them healthy.
When Carly Buhagiar moved into a brand-new apartment in the trendy inner Melbourne suburb of Prahran she had no idea how disastrous the place would be for her health.
During the three years the 34-year-old high school PE teacher lived in the rental unit she developed lesions all over her skin.
She was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and eventually an autoimmune condition that left her so sick and exhausted she was forced to quit her job.
At the same time, Ms Buhagiar’s former partner, who was also living in the unit, developed an eerily similar autoimmune condition.
However, it would be years before they would connect the dots – and trace their dramatic health problems back to an air conditioner filled with mould.
“When I moved into the apartment in April 2014 I was as fit as a fiddle. As a PE teacher I was really in tune with my body. I had been to the doctor three times in four years before that,” said Ms Buhagiar.
But Ms Buhagiar soon started to notice strange symptoms, beginning with severe breakouts on her skin.
“I was diagnosed with adult acne, severe and cystic, and put on some serious medication. But the acne turned out to be lesions that were all over my face and my legs and my chest,” she said.
“Then fatigue set in. I was really tired, all the time.”
“A year after I moved into the apartment I was diagnosed with depression and high-end anxiety. Anyone who knows me would say I just became a different person.”
“I also had brain fog. I couldn’t think clearly. I was a PE teacher and I had taught the same subject for four years but I would be standing there (in front of the students) and I would lose my memory of what I was about to say. I couldn’t think of the words.”
‘I WANTED THEM TO SAY I HAD CANCER’
Alarmingly, doctors appeared to be just as puzzled as Ms Buhagiar about what was making her so sick.
By 2016, it had become so bad that she was forced to resign from her position as head PE teacher at a top Melbourne girls’ school.
“I just couldn’t function. When everything is falling down around you and you don’t know why, it crushes you,” Ms Buhagiar said.
MOULD FOUND AND A DIAGNOSIS AT LAST
It wasn’t until December last year, when Ms Buhagiar did a DIY mould testing kit that she had the breakthrough.
“I did a home [mould] test kit off the internet. And sure enough, alarm bells rang straight away,” she said.
The DIY mould test kit contains petri-plates which are placed in the home to test the mould in the air, or you can take swabs of surfaces. Once the samples have been taken in the home, the user posts them back to the lab where they undergo a full laboratory analysis by a PhD qualified mycologist.
A post analysis report is then emailed to the user detailing the species of mould and the intensity of the colony, providing insight into whether the home is safe or further action is required.
After Ms Buhagiar received her DIY mould test kit results via email, she contacted the inventor of this ingenious kit, and one of Australia’s leading mould experts and microbiologists, Dr Cameron Jones, to conduct further tests.
Dr Jones concluded that tests on the apartment showed an extremely high concentration of mould spores in the living room and kitchen of the unit.
“It was extremely high where the air conditioner was pumping out. That was the central thing that you saw when you walked into the apartment,” he said.
Photos taken of the air conditioner at the time show mould growing inside the casing and on its fins.
“It was clear as crystal. It was the air conditioner,” Dr Jones said.
AUSTRALIANS UNDERESTIMATE THE DANGERS AND HOW WIDESPREAD IT IS
It is estimated that 1 in 4 people in Australia are sensitive to mould, and approximately 20% of households have at least a mild mould problem.
The majority of people just don’t fully understand just how dangerous it really is.
Microbiologist Dr Cameron Jones said mould in buildings was a widespread problem and the serious health risks were not being recognized.
“The first signs of water damage or mould need to be gotten on top of quickly. Mould will quickly grow on any building product that contains a carbon source or a food source,” Dr Jones said.
Dr Jones said dangerous situations arise when the mould was growing unseen in a wall or ceiling, becoming “a toxic hazard”.
The cheapest way to be sure that your home is not a harmful environment for you and your family is to get a DIY mould testing kit.
Claim Now: 30% Discount On Dr Jones’ DIY Mould Test Kit
Unfortunately our kids that are the most vulnerable, like 11 year old Mariah who had to drop out of her mould infected school because:
“I felt like I was going to faint and I started getting cramps in my stomach when I would sit in the classroom,” Mariah said.
With her mother claiming that “every organ in her body was pretty much inflamed”.
If you have visible mould in your home, a DIY mould test kit is a cost effective way to find out if you or your family are being exposed to dangerous toxins. The test can help you understand the species and intensity of the mould. If you don’t have visible mould, keep in mind that the invisible spores can do just as much damage. It’s such a small amount of effort to ensure your family is safe at home.
If you are living as a tenant in a rental, the reports that you receive can also stand as a strong evidence to support requests for your landlord to take immediate action on eradicating the mould in your home.