Mold Allergy, Water Damage Exposure, Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis, Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis.
ID: 728024
California, USA
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Expert is a board-certified allergist-immunologist and has been retained as a medical expert witness in nearly 300 cases involving adverse health effects from water damage and mold exposure. He has also testified in at least 6 trials related to these issues. He obtained both his MD and BA (Chemistry) degrees from the Univerity of Vermont and attended Harvard College. His internal medicine training was obtained at Marquette Univerity (aka Medical College of Wisconsin) and his fellowship in allergy, immunology, & rheumatogy at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation at La Jolla, CA. He has been a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California at Irvine, CA since 1985. Expert has published many articles from original research in most of the major medical publications related to his specialty as well as in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He has also been listed as one of America's top allergists-immunologists in "Top Doctors" and "Top Physicians".
Conditions which may be linked to water damage/mold exposure include asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, fatigue, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, pulmonary fibrosis, chronic sinusitis, headaches, and dermatitis.
A family of 5 started to become ill within weeks after their condo unit sustained water damage. Two of the children were found to have developed bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis, and another headaches and nasal nasal congestion. Skin testing confirmed the presence of allergic reactions to some of the molds detected in the condo. All of the 3 members who suffered allergic diseases started to improve within 2 months following vacating their condo. This sequence of events helped me to ascertain that there was a cause-effect link between their illnesses and water damage exposure. Since there will be future cost involved in treating these disease conditions, the attorneys were able to obtain compensation for their future treatments. The illnesses suffered by the other 2 family members were not considered to be causally related to their water damage exposure.A 55 year-old woman was referred by her dermatologist for an intensely itchy skin rash which exacerbates within days after topical cortisone was stopped. Skin biopsy and blood tests were not helpful in reaching a diagnosis. The patient was given the option of taking cortisone, Cyclosporin, or UVB-NB phototherapy. She chose the UVB treatment and had responded quite well with nearly total clearing of her skin after about 10 weeks of phototherapy.A 61 year-old physician's wife was seen for persistent nasal stuffiness and had been using Afrin nasal spray on a daily basis for over 5 years. During the examination, she also remarked that she did tend to get some breathing problem while swimming. Lung function test showed that she had a markedly reduce total capacity (FVC) and FEV-1/FVC. This case was remarkable in that she had very little respiratory symptoms at all. A 45 year old housewife started to have recurrent bouts of pneumonia about 6 months ago. Each episode would last for about a week. Her history indicated that her house had sustained extensive water damage and her landlord had done nothing other than spraying the stained walls with bleach then painted over them. Her lung function test was normal as was the chest x-ray at the time we saw her. However her blood test for fungal precipitins was positive. We then requested copies of his old chest x-ray which did verified the presence of pneumonia on several occasions. Her history of water damage exposure and pneumonia episodes made us suspicious of the presence of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. This diagnosis was further supported by the presence of preciptin bands to atmospheric fungi. Obviously moving was not just an option for this patient but immediate remediation of the water damage solved the problem altogether.