Autopsy: Patient died from mold linked to other deaths

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Autopsy: Patient died from mold linked to other deaths

Updated 4:57 pm, Thursday, August 18, 2016

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An autopsy report for a transplant patient who contracted a fungal infection while at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center indicates he suffered from the same type of mold linked to other deaths.

A UPMC spokeswoman had said the death of Daniel Krieg was not directly related to the fungal infection but was caused by pneumonia. Krieg, 56, became the fifth known UPMC patient with a fungal infection to die since 2014 amid a federal investigation into mold cases at the health system's facilities.

An autopsy obtained by The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/2b3VtXe ) listed the cause of death as "multiorgan failure due to sepsis due to pneumonia." UPMC Dr. Penny Sappington wrote in the report that he suffered from bacterial and fungal pneumonia. A removed lobe of his lung contained rhizopus, a form of mold.

. . .

Krieg, of Elks County, died July 9 at UPMC Presbyterian. His lawyer, Brendan Lupetin, said Krieg had a successful kidney transplant in July 2015, but returned to the hospital in March. He did not leave the hospital before he died.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Autopsy-Patient-died-from-mold-linked-to-other-9170994.php

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I think

I read there are about 450 molds/yeast in the world

Only about 25 of them being fatal to humans

But mold is ubiquitous, once it's there, it's there

Once it's in wood, you can't kill it off. Rock, block, plastic the same thing

Funguses are all inside of us, breathing, eating, drinking

When our molds/yeast/fungi are unable to be kept in check by our
pathogens/bacteria/viruses/minerals ... we're sick indeed.

Eww!

[bananas]

5. Astromycology: The Fungal Frontier

https://harvardsciencereview.com/2015/06/02/astromycology-the-fungal-frontier/

Astromycology: The “Fungal” Frontier
by Tristan Wang
HARVARD SCIENCE REVIEW ON JUNE 2, 2015

Hollywood movies and horror novels have painted extraterrestrial life as green monsters, scouring the barren grounds of Mars and shooting any intruder with photon lasers. These disturbing imaginations, while far-fetched, do hold some truth about frightening outer space life forms, but not in the ways we imagine. During its orbit as the first modular space station, the satellite Mir experienced attacks from the least suspect extraterrestrial life form: mold. Splotches of fungal hyphae covered windows and control panels and gradually ate away at the hull’s interior during the latter part of the satellite’s life, and with it, any notion of a “sterile spaceship”.1

<snip>

[bananas]

4. Out of this world, too: the Mir space station was over-run with mold

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2313/was-the-em-mir-em-space-station-being-eaten-by-a-mysterious-fungus

Was the Mir space station being eaten by a mysterious fungus?

July 13, 2001

Dear Cecil:

I've heard that the Mir space station was being consumed by a mysterious steel- and plastic-eating space fungus and that this was why whole sections of it were closed off. Is there any truth to this? If so, does this mean, now that Mir has reentered the atmosphere, that the Earth has been exposed to this plague from space?

— Jay Vollmer

Cecil replies:

It's worse than you think. We're not just talking about metal-eating space fungus — we're talking, potentially, about mutant metal-eating space fungus. Some see in this a cautionary tale about the bizarre dangers awaiting us in outer space. I see the inevitable result of letting unescorted males run a space station for 14 years. What's the story, comrades — you never clean out the fridge?

The fungal infestation came to light in 1988, when Mir inhabitants noticed that a porthole was obscured by what one alarmist described as "an unknown film that was spreading like some horror-movie scum." Closer examination revealed green-and-black encrustations behind control panels, inside air ducts, and in other nooks and crannies throughout the spacecraft. The stuff didn't literally eat metal and plastic but did give off corrosive chemicals such as acetic acid. Acetic acid is basically vinegar, so one doesn't want to become unnecessarily alarmed. Still, the acid pitted Mir's titanium, plastic, and glass, suggesting that the spacecraft's structural integrity might be threatened if the fungus were left unchecked.

<snip>

[mrmpa]

3. I worked in a group home...........

in 2004 my clients were intellectually challenged. I started in August and immediately came down with what I thought was an upper respiratory infection. I went to my Doctor's, and saw one of his associates. I was given antibiotics, but they didn't help. Between August and December I suffered with coughing, sneezing, wheezing, etc. Called the doctor's office two more times and was given antibiotics.

Finally in January I got an appointment with my Doctor, not an associate. After listening to my lungs and just looking at me, his first question to me was "is there mold where you live?" He also said that my symptoms and the length of my suffering was definitely an allergy.

No mold in my home, but I told my supervisor and they had a company come out and check the house. Oh yeah, there was mold and they got it cleaned. This was a bad situation for my clients and co-workers. Within 2 weeks with the Allerest the doctor gave me & the house being cleaned, my symptoms went away.

I can almost immediately tell when I'm in a new home or hotel if there's mold, because the symptoms come back. It's a terrible thing.

BTW: my Doctor's practice was part of the UPMC system.

[getagrip_already]

6. molds may exist...

that's indisputable. But like other pathogens they don't grow unless they are given the right conditions; none of which should exist in a properly cleaned and maintained hospital with a disciplined staff.

Infection rates in hospitals are DIRECTLY tied to cleaning, sanitation, and hand and tool protocols.

The UPMC has a lot to answer for if multiple patients died of the same thing. It is NOT normal or expected, especially in clusters.

Yes, it happens. But if they are on top of things it happens rarely. Something apparently broke down.