DCHAS-L Archives Jul 27 2011

a coll eague of mine at Chrysler did the same thing - after repeated visits t o investigate an IAQ problem, he found a moldy orange in a woman's desk.

From: "Alan Hall" <ahalltoxic**At_Symbol_Here**MSN.COM>
To: DCHAS- L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 1:49:56 PM
Su bject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Odor

Rachel,

Since it is a microbiology laboratory, have you considered any of the biological organisms that contribute to the problem of "Athlete's foot" (some are odoriferous fungi) that might be bein g grown/incubated? Could there be some cultures of such in there? Certainly, many "moldy" odors are actually from biological organisms. Could it in fact be that "dirty socks" are actually dirty socks (as in someone's overlooked gym bag)?

I'm reminded of a case at a maj or IBM facility a friend of mine investigated some years ago of "sick build ing syndrome" in an office area that turned out to be a "lost" mouldy orang e buried beneath paperwork in a worker's lower desk drawer (after an expens ive IH evaluation of multiple worker odor complaints had already been done) .

Just a thought.

Alan
Alan H. Hall, M. D.
Medical Toxicologist.

Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:57:04 +0000
From: patty.olinger**At_Symbol_Here**EMORY.EDU
S ubject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Odor
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU

Hi Rachel, Obv iously from the responses you=E2=80=99ve received there could be several po ssibilities. Dry traps are usually a good one to start with. If you (and your facilities and research staff) have exhausted all possibilit ies there is also something called "dirty sock syndrome=". Google it and you will see many reference and discussions. Here is a link with an explanation.

http://www.foxservice .com/austin/knowledge_base.asp?ID=1291219433792&_perPg=40&view =articles&_category=Residential%3A%3AAir%20Conditioning%20%26%20Hea ting%20&_filterField=Categories

We recently had an i ssue that people described as dirty socks, sewer gas, etc. After several mo nths found the odor by reviewing the floor plan of the building and fo llowing the pipes in the walls. We found a couple of uncapped pipes t hat were no longer in use.

Good luck,

Patty

Patty Olinger, RBP

Director EHSO

Emory University

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"Harrington, Rachel" <rachel.harrington**At_Symbol_Here**ROSALINDFRA NKLIN.EDU> wrote:

We have a strong "dirty socks=" odor present in one of our micro labs. It=E2=80=99s a pretty typical lab using media and cultures, etc. and we are systematically removing eve rything and deconning but this odor is persisting. I know I have smel t this chemical before, maybe back in my undergraduate days, but it is real ly a sickening odor. Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated . Thank you!

Rachel E. Harrin gton, MPH, CHMM

Director- Office of Environmental, Health and Safety

Rosalind Frankli n University of Medicine and Science

3333 Green Bay R oad

North Chicago, I L 60064

847-578-3420 wor k

224-622-4244 mob ile

847-775-6548 fax

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