Use of Unvalidated Urine Mycotoxin Tests for the Clinical Diagnosis of Illness — United States, 2014

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Kawamoto, Melody ; Page, Elena
• Description:
  In February 2014, CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health received a request for a health hazard evaluation from a union representative in an office building. A female employee reported the onset of symptoms involving multiple organ systems upon returning to work after a prolonged absence. The employee searched the Internet for descriptions of symptoms matching hers, found a laboratory offering "toxic mold tTesting" direct to consumers, and submitted a urine sample, despite the absence of musty odors and signs of fungal growth in her office. The laboratory reported "positive" concentrations of two mycotoxins: ochratoxin at 2.8 parts per billion (ppb) and tricothecenes at 0.4 ppb. The laboratory cutoff for "positive" was ≥2.0 ppb for ochratoxin and ≥0.2 ppb for tricothecenes. The interpretation accompanying the laboratory report said the results "revealed that you have an unusual level of that mycotoxin(s) present in your body."
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Female Humans Malaria Mycotoxins Notes From The Field Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Validation Studies As Topic
• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 2015; 64(6):157-158.
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Pubmed ID:
  25695323
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4584707
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  2 pdf pages
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9463f2eb83c1d1eda219da2a319e14552be09bd6dc133d0d1180ab6e26fc32edbcf8bc83f8b18d90a6cb287f2665c1405853d5de06266caaa69f746e333ed1a1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/55015/cdc_55015_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 107.13 KB ]