2002 E-Mail Sent M. Gilsenan

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

pulmonary hemosiderosis and/or pulmonary hemorrhaging should not be returned to dwellings until remediation and air testing are completed. Clinical tests that can determine the source, place, or time of exposure to fungi or their products are not currently available. Antibodies developed by exposed persons to fungal agents can only document that exposure has occurred. Since exposure to fungi routinely occurs in both outdoor and indoor environments this information is of limited value. 1.3 Medical Relocation Infants (less than 12 months old), persons recovering from recent surgery, or people with immune suppression, asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, severe allergies, sinusitis, or other chronic inflammatory lung diseases may be at greater risk for developing health problems associated with certain fungi. Such persons should be removed from the affected area during remediation (see Section 3, Remediation). Persons diagnosed with fungal related diseases should not be returned to the affected areas until remediation and air testing are completed. Except in cases of widespread fungal contamination that are linked to illnesses throughout a building, a building-wide evacuation is not indicated. A trained occupational/environmental health practitioner should base decisions about medical removals in the occupational setting on the results of a clinical assessment. top of page

2. Environmental Assessment The presence of mold, water damage, or musty odors should be addressed immediately. In all instances, any source(s) of water must be stopped and the extent of water damaged determined. Water damaged materials should be dried and repaired. Mold damaged materials should be remediated in accordance with this document (see Section 3, Remediation).

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