Autoimmunity Reviews: Dampness and mold hypersensitivity syndrome and vaccination as risk factors for CFS (Tamara Tuuminen et al - 2018)

I'm returning to reading some other papers by Tamara Tuuminen.
It seems to me as if the Finns have had a longstanding interest in moulds and mycotoxins. Already some 15-20 years ago, I had a sister-in-law working for a Finnish firm that made their living on investigating mould infestions in buildings. They weren't interested in humans. But they were, as humans, pretty good at identifying the different smells of different kinds of moulds.
 
Just got this test result on my daughter: extreme infection with ochratoxin. I'll be very grateful for advice from experienced mold warriors. Screen Shot 2018-12-19 at 9.29.21 AM.pngScreen Shot 2018-12-19 at 9.29.21 AM.png
 
Creek said:
Just got this test result on my daughter: extreme infection with ochratoxin. I'll be very grateful for advice from experienced mold warriors. View attachment 5154View attachment 5154
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Ochratoxin is not an infection. It is a protein produced b various moulds. This look like a urine sample. Is it certain that this is not just mould contamination of the sample?

Where does the test result come from?
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
Ochratoxin is not an infection. It is a protein produced b various moulds. This look like a urine sample. Is it certain that this is not just mould contamination of the sample?

Where does the test result come from?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I knew while I was typing the word, and meaning to use it in a broad sense, that someone was going to call me on "infection." Infestation? Mycotoxicity? My foggy brain couldn't find the right word.

Anyway... Yes, it was a urine sample taken after a 14-day course of glucosamine. The sample was used to run this test from Great Plains Lab. Could it have been contaminated? I suppose it's impossible to be certain that it wasn't, but my daughter opened a sterile specimen jar, peed in it, and put the lid on it, then we put it in the freezer, so if it did get contaminated then there must be high levels of ochratoxin in, what, her breath, or the air? Based on her severe illness and the test results I think it's reasonable to suppose that the doctor might be right, and that she would maybe feel a whole lot better after a detox.
 
Creek said:
I'll be very grateful for advice from experienced mold warriors.
Click to expand...

In this strong critique of Dr Joseph Brewer's work by Dr Ritchie Shoemaker, there is a paragraph about urine testing of mycotoxins:
Bizarrely, in 2013, we started seeing reports that a CFS-treating physician, Joseph Brewer, now ordering ELISA urinary mycotoxin studies, was finding problems and claiming that over 90% of people with CFS had urine full of mycotoxins. Therefore, the urine meant something was causing them to be ill from mycotoxins. His paper on mycotoxins and CFS was shredded by Gary Rosen as junk science earlier this year (Urine Testing for Mycotoxins, Junk Science or Not? www.Mold-Toxins.com).

Please also see the Round Table on www.survivingmold.com for a frank discussion of ELISA testing, especially in urine. ELISAs are never specific without showing validation of the antibody used (not done) and absence of activation of the antibody by epitopes of the putative antigen (not done); nor reliable without stringent controls. His reports on the methods used to collect urine did not show use of such stringent controls.
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I don't really have any understanding of this subject, so am not sure if this is relevant.
 
Creek said:
my daughter opened a sterile specimen jar, peed in it, and put the lid on it, then we put it in the freezer, so if it did get contaminated then there must be high levels of ochratoxin in, what, her breath, or the air?
Click to expand...

Mould spores are present in air everywhere and mould will grow in urine at low temperatures. Which is why things in the fridge often sprout furry mould colonies. I don't have any information on the value of urine mood tests other than the quote in Hip's post but from what I was taught in bacteriology years ago I would assume that it is completely meaningless.
 
Creek said:
Based on her severe illness and the test results I think it's reasonable to suppose that the doctor might be right, and that she would maybe feel a whole lot better after a detox.
Click to expand...

Dr Joseph Brewer's 2013 study found ochratoxin A in the urine of 83% of ME/CFS patients (and also found two other mycotoxins present in some ME/CFS patients: aflatoxins and macrocyclic trichothecenes).

No such mycotoxins were found in the urine of 55 control subjects (but these controls were from another study; Brewer himself did not submit any control urine samples for testing).

Brewer suggests that there must be an actual mold infection in the body somewhere (he proposes the nasal cavities and sinuses) that is continually producing these mycotoxins found in urine.



Dr Brewer has experimented with treating ME/CFS patients with antifungal nasal sprays in an attempt to kill this assumed mold infection of the nasal and sinus mucous membranes.

As you can see from the comments in Shoemaker's critique, one Lyme (or perhaps ME/CFS) patient obtained major benefits when applying those antifungal nasal sprays.

And Dr Brewer's 2015 paper showed that approximately 60% of his patients with chronic illnesses (not necessarily ME/CFS) make a substantial improvement on this nasal spray protocol. It's interesting that Brewer found "urine mycotoxin levels decreased substantially in patients that improved on therapy."

A blog article about his treatment protocol here.

These antifungal nasal sprays are for sale at Woodland Hills Pharmacy. Apparently the nystatin nasal spray or itraconazole nasal spray cause less sensitivity issues than the amphotericin B spray.
 
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