Very much appreciate this substack's work but I am concerned about dismissing this topic even though it is an area filled with grifters and dubious information.

Having had this issue become my unofficial area of study due to the serious health problems it caused by younger son, and the fallout it generated into a long-term odyssey of dominos crashing in every area, I have some experience here with both the medical side (as patients) and the homeowner side, having undergone mutliple remediations in several homes and made very bad decisions based on alarmists and unscrupulous or indifferent testers and remediators.

All that said, indoor mold and bacteria on building materials can be a very serious issue especially for people who are already predisposed genetically to not well handle these type of toxins or from other concomitant illnesses (typical) and it should be cleaned up professionally in a way that doesn't introduce it into the living environment.

It is however, practically impossible to communicate said harms to those who haven't experienced it first hand, are not particularly susceptible to it, or for whom this issue just isn't on the radar etc ... . But I would however, take biotoxin related illness as a potential major input to explore as many people end up being treated for pulmonary, dermatological, neurological, gastrointestinal, psychological, symptoms by the medical establishment, which generate other issues without ever knowing there might be something external driving these multiple symptoms.

Inflammatory illnesses are insidious in that once sick, the body in an attempt to protect itself generalizes and starts to become reactive to an increasing number of things. Seeking symptom relief from traditional medical providers can be catastrophic.

And with all the other things we have to deal with now - poisoned air, food, water, EMF, vaccines, etc ... this is just one more back-breaking thing the body has to deal with ...

I would suggest finding a medical professional who deals with this sort of environmental illness specifically, else the rest of them will eventually shunt you to a psychiatrist as a malingerer. Not going into a fear state is critical, especially if children are affected.

And Gary Rosen's works about how to do proper remediation without abandoning your house and belongings and where to look for most likely sources is excellent. Anyway, here's some information should anyone be interested.

Kindest regards from one who made all the mistakes ...

Shoemaker, R.C. & House, D.E. (2006). “Sick building syndrome (SBS) and exposure to water-damaged buildings: time series study, clinical trial and mechanisms.” Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 28(5):573–588. doi:10.1016/j.ntt.2006.07.003.

Indoor air of water-damaged buildings contains fungi, mycotoxins, bacteria, endotoxins, antigens, lipopolysaccharides, and volatile compounds.

In a time-series study (n=28), participants had an average of 23 symptoms, with abnormal visual contrast sensitivity (VCS) in all subjects.

After cholestyramine therapy, symptoms dropped to an average of 4 and VCS improved by ~65% after two weeks.

Biomarkers including MMP-9, leptin, VEGF, and IgE were elevated at baseline and improved moderately with therapy.

Shoemaker, R.C., House, D.E., & Ryan, J.C. (2014). “Structural brain abnormalities in patients with inflammatory illness acquired following exposure to water-damaged buildings: A volumetric MRI study using NeuroQuant®.” Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 45:18–26. doi:10.1016/j.ntt.2014.06.004.

Patients with chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) from WDB exposure showed significant brain volume differences compared to controls.

Findings included caudate nucleus atrophy and enlargement of pallidum, left amygdala, and right forebrain parenchyma.

Over 45% of patients had gliotic areas on MRI vs ~5% of controls. MR spectroscopy revealed elevated lactate and reduced glutamate/glutamine ratios.

Results suggest biotoxin-triggered systemic inflammation compromises blood–brain barrier integrity, leading to neuroanatomical and metabolic brain changes.

Dooley, M. (2024). “Chronic inflammatory response syndrome: a review …” Medical Research Archives. PMC11623837.

Shoemaker and Maizel conducted controlled re-exposure studies: patients improved after treatment, regressed upon re-exposure to WDBs, and improved again with re-treatment.

This provided strong causal evidence for microbial exposure in CIRS.

Shoemaker’s case definition for Chronic Biotoxin-Associated Illness (2006) includes documented exposure, multi-system symptoms, abnormal biomarkers, and therapeutic response.

Note on Schaller: No peer-reviewed journal articles by Schaller on mycotoxin harms were found. Schaller (J.L. Schaller, M.D.) has written clinical guides and books on mold illness, but these are not published in peer-reviewed medical journals.