HOW TO WIN THE MOLD WAR

Doctors don't fully know why, but EXCESSIVE EXPOSURE to mold seems to cause a range of problems that can be TRICKY TO DIAGNOSE. Here's what to know about these microorganisms, why we're liable to be dealing with more of them, and how to keep them from HARMING YOUR HEALTH.

- MERYL DAVIDS LANDAU

At first, Lauren Byington just felt tired, something she attributed to having a new baby. After a while, though, other symptoms appeared-yellowing skin, thinning hair, and pain in her liver, which made her think something was amiss. What that something was took Lauren, a 34-year-old entrepreneur in Bandera, TX, two years to discover. One doctor thought she might have Lyme disease; another worried that it could be cancer. Finally, allergy tests revealed that Lauren's symptoms were due to excessive exposure to mold.

Lauren had no idea where she'd been exposed to high levels of mold, so she combed her house for possible sources. She didn't find anything-no leaks under the sink, no cracks letting rain enter the walls, nothing dripping from the roof or the air conditioner.

Then she remembered how her health worsened when she got into her touring van, a vehicle she used almost every month to drive her family nine hours to visit relatives; she and her kids would sleep in the van's two king-size beds. When Lauren stuck cotton swabs into the air vents and around the air conditioning unit in the roof of her van, they emerged black as night. Even though the van had been brand-new when her symptoms had first appeared, driving it from one climate to another on a regular basis had apparently led condensation to build up in the AC, allowing mold to grow. "I felt shocked, but there was also a sense of relief to finally know the source of my problems," Lauren says.

MOLD ON THE MARCH

These fuzzy microorganisms are everywhere-outside in the shade and where leaves and grass decompose, inside in the damp parts of our homes or offices, and even on some of the crops grown for our food. Mold spreads easily because the spores on the top of it readily float through the air.