Complicating the picture is mold's reputation as a harmless fungus. The mold makes Plaut's chest tighten and her throat swell, and it congests her sinuses. So her doctor has prescribed steroids to control her symptoms and advised her not to return to school until the mold is gone. School officials disagree about the possible risks. They hope to resolve the problem in the three to four weeks it will take for portable classrooms to arrive.
Molds are innocuous.
The air we breathe is a soup of fungi, bacteria, pollen, dust, viruses and bug parts, not to mention various chemicals from living in an industrial society. But this is not yet widely known. You still find physicians who don't understand that this has to be taken very seriously. Schools need to understand that, too, said Claire Barnett, of the Health Schools Network, based in upstate New York. In recent years, she said, schools across the country have been closed because mold sickened children.