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Black mould can infest homes and even schools, putting potentially millions of Australians at risk of serious illness.

School student Mariah, 11, was seriously ill for three years before she was diagnosed with a mould-related illness.

Her mother Hayley told A Current Affair “every organ in her body was pretty much inflamed”.

Mariah suffered severe nausea and chronic weightloss – down to just 26 kilograms at her lowest.

At her worst, she was too ill to attend school, play sport or go to the beach.

Shockingly, doctors traced the diagnosis to a mould-infested classroom at her public school.

“I felt like I was going to faint and I started getting cramps in my stomach when I would sit in the classroom,” Mariah said.

It is believed about 25 percent of people carry a gene that makes them susceptible to mould illnesses.

Specialist doctors believe CIRS can lead to a range of symptoms affecting everything from brain function to respiratory problems.

Watch the interview below

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  • My daughter is a teacher in Far North QLD and they have real issues over the long Christmas break. Its so hot and steamy up there and if they get a lot of rain then the entire classroom can be covered in mould and need to be professionally cleaned before school starts.

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  • If you have vinyl floor coverings make sure there is no tiny little holes etc in it. If you wash them moisture can get underneath it and cause mould. Your kitchen is a damp area because of steam from cooking too.

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  • That classroom must have been seen to be full of mould for this to have happened. So terrible for this young lady.

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  • It’s bad enough if you find it in your house but in a classroom? That’s disgusting. Hope Mariah gets better and all this is put behind her

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  • That’s quite disgusting that her classroom was mould infested, I’m always pretty careful at fighting mould.

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  • OMG, I had no idea. Thankfully they were able to determine the cause so they can then help this young girl on her road to recovery. Education and awareness. Something I had not been aware of previously.

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  • luckily they found out what the problem was. Poor girl.

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  • Mould can be very hard to get rid of.

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  • When I was a teenager I was sick all the time and the Dr asked what sort of house we lived in as if it had mould. I did, in fact it was contained in my bedroom. Once the mould issue was sorted I slowly got better. Those mould spores can be very debilitating.

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  • Poor kid. How was the classroom that bad that it hadn’t been identified as an issue in general? I know what I’ll be keeping a closer eye out for!

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  • Wow poor girl, they better have that Mould cleaned up. Quite shocking it was there for so long.

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  • Wow that’s terrible and eye opening

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  • Mould is so dangerous and the poor child – sounds like she suffered terribly.

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  • This is not good enough ..there should not be mold in class rooms and if there is it should be treated professionally straight away.

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  • My old house was riddled with mould. It was absolutely disgusting. The place should have been torn down years ago but they still just keep putting tenants in it.


    • Same here! The owners didn’t take us seriously at first. I had to complain several times. It was on the walls, windows, curtains (that weren’t right on the window or wall) and even on clothes in our wardrobe



      • Oh my goodness, that is shocking she got so sick of this !!
        Yes it was in our old house to, on the walls, windows and window frames and in the bathrooms is was very bad. . Bad insulation together with poor heating system in the Australian houses doesn’t help !

    Reply

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