ASHEVILLE - The greenish-black Stachybotrys chartarum mold can grow in material like fiberboard, gypsum board, paper, dust and lint. It can grow in areas with excessive humidity, water damage, flooding and condensation. Many types of mold are common in the environment, but the S. chartarum mold is found less frequently. Molds can cause common health problems, including allergic reactions similar to hay fever, but reactions to mold vary among individuals. Individuals with chronic respiratory disease like asthma may have difficulty breathing. Studies in the 1990s linking the S. chartarum mold to health problems like pulmonary hemorrhaging, or bleeding lungs, in infants have since been refuted.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The workers reported problems such as pneumonia, headaches and burning and watery eyes to an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, the spa employs 90 of the inn's about 900 workers.

The inn's employees are the first to be enrolled in a national research project by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, an agency that is a part of the CDC and tries to reduce work-related injuries and illnesses.

Craig Madison, president and CEO of the inn, said the inn found mold in the spa in October and closed eight of 24 treatment rooms in the multimillion-dollar spa. The inn hired a company to remove the mold, which has been completed.

Madison said reconstruction in the women's wing has started.

The spa, which features several underground waterfalls, pools and massage treatment rooms, opened in 2000 after the inn invested $42 million to build it.

In November, the agency began evaluating whether workers were exposed to hazardous materials or harmful conditions. The agency later wrote in the introduction to its study that "certain areas of the Inn were heavily contaminated with mold."

While molds are a part of the natural environment, the type found at the inn, Stachybotrys chartarum, grows in extremely humid or wet environments. The mold gained national attention after a 1994 study in Cleveland linked it to pulmonary hemorrhaging, or bleeding lungs, in infants.

Later, scientists decided that study's conclusions were unsubstantiated, according to the January 2003 issue of Clinical Microbiology Reviews.

Concerns about indoor air quality and mold problems have been a "hot topic for several years," said Romie Herring, industrial hygiene consultant supervisor with North Carolina's Division of Public Health.

Still, there are no federal standards restricting the amount of mold allowed indoors, and public health officials say it's hard to determine how often the S. chartarum mold occurs.

In a letter sent in December to a North Carolina state health agency, an official with NIOSH wrote that workers at the Grove Park Inn reported mold-induced "respiratory, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, headaches, coughs, sore throat, burning/watery eye (sic)."

According to documents, workers reported exposures to mold, fungus, stagnant water and inadequate ventilation in massage therapy, nail treatment and pool areas. The complainants were not named.

Ken Wallingford, NIOSH indoor environmental quality research coordinator, said the agency normally responds to mold complaints over the phone. He said the agency received about 150 mold-related complaints last year.

But Wallingford said the agency sent a team of researchers to the inn because the site fit the criteria of a national research study it wanted to begin. Dozens of buildings across the nation could be studied as a part of the project.

One of the study's goals is to determine whether Stachylysin, a blood protein, is related to mold exposure. In November, a NIOSH medical officer took blood samples from 32 inn workers to test for the protein.

The team also offered suggestions on how to fix the problem, he said.

"We made some recommendations to them to clean up some of those areas and to repair some of the water damage to the wall material," said Melissa Finley, NIOSH project officer. She said the group also suggested "general cleaning" in some of the rooms with moisture problems.

"We've isolated the problem," Madison said, "and we are taking extreme measures to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Declining to comment on specific health problems of employees, he said there have not been any confirmed mold- related workers' compensation claims.

Layton Long, environmental health director at the Buncombe County Health Center, said it's not unusual to find mold in enclosed areas with high humidity, like spas and pools.

"I think we've all seen mold in our (own) showers," he said. "The problem comes if it becomes excessive, then people who are susceptible to mold start to have upper respiratory problems, particularly people with asthma."

NIOSH researchers said a final report on the health hazard evaluation at the inn would be released after lab tests were completed and the company is notified. It is expected by the end of the month.

The national study could take up to several years.

For more information, contact:

Alan L. Wozniak, CIAQP

(800) 422-7873 ext. 802