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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – The Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes mold as fungi that can be found indoors or outdoors. The number of species that survive among us is unknown, but is estimated to be tens of thousands to approximately three hundred thousand or more.
Hurricane Florence caused many to lose power anywhere from a few days to weeks, leaving buildings sufficient grounds for mold to reproduce. This led parents of children that attend school on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune to have concerns about the environment their children would be in while attending school.
Todd Curkendall, Camp Lejeune Community Superintendent, Brewster Middle School, MCB Camp Lejeune, invited David Lipton, industrial hygienist consultant, North Carolina Division of Public Health, to educate those who have concerns on mold at Brewster Middle School, Camp Lejeune, Oct. 24.
According to Lipton, about 70 percent of the calls that he receives are from those concerned about mold in homes, schools and offices and how it will affect those that come in contact with it.
Mold is a very unique organism that has the potential to be detrimental to health, but that doesn’t mean that it always does.
“Molds are incredible organisms, they’re part of the kingdom of fungi, they are everywhere and they are really interesting,” said Lipton. “They’re not plants and they’re not animals, they need an external food source, but they have a rigid cell wall like a plant. Just because you have a mold that can produce a toxin does not mean that it’s going to be there.”
Lipton states that the process for removing mold remains nearly the same with each case, but what must be taken into account is what precautions need to be enforced depending on the severity of the mold, the amount of people in the area and even the size of the area.
“The first thing is you want to get control of the moisture, that’s the crucial thing,” said Lipton. “Damp buildings are not good places. The second part is, get the mold out of the environment and you do that either by cleaning or by removing the materials that you can’t clean. The third priority is that you don’t want to send moldy dust into the air.”
Multiple factors determine whether or not mold growth will thrive in an area.
“Mold really grows when things get damp, fundamentally it is a moisture problem,” said Lipton. “Mold spores have to land in the right place, at the right time, with the right amount of water, at the right temperature, with the right amount of food [in order for mold to begin growing.]”
| Date Taken: | 11.02.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2018 13:05 |
| Story ID: | 298976 |
| Location: | CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 58 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Industrial Hygienist addresses Brewster Middle School mold concerns, by Cpl Nikki Morales, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
