One faculty member believes mold made him sick

by Angela Lee - Reporter, The Statesboro (Ga.) Herald
July 24, 2002

At least one Georgia Southern faculty member is convinced mold creeping through the building where he worked nearly killed him recently.

It all began back in April, says the assistant professor who wishes to remain anonymous. As usual, he was spending his work days in Georgia Southern's communications art facility, a small group of "temporary" buildings located not far from the university's Henderson Library.

Classes were in full swing. He was busy. But he stopped suddenly one evening when he found himself unable to breathe.

The doctors called it "reactive airways," he remembers. He calls it terror.

He survived and returned to his classroom in the communications art facility, where he noticed he wasn't the only one who was sick. Others complained of various health problems.

Finally, one determined staff member convinced university officials testing was in order to determine if the building was a safe place to work.

They did the testing, he says, and found "massive amounts" of stachybotrys, a mold sometimes blamed for serious health problems in humans.

Months later, he's feeling fine ... and he has a new office in another building on the Georgia Southern campus.

"They fixed my problem," he says.

Angela Lee can be reached at 489-9454 or alee_ford@hotmail.com.