Sometimes parents have no choice but to dry their laundry indoors, especially if it’s raining outside if pressed for space. But studies reveal that doing so have considerable health risks.
Allowing wet or even damp clothing on drying racks or radiators raises the moisture levels inside the house by up to 30%.
While this may sound harmless, it creates the perfect condition for mold spores to breed, and experts are particularly concerned about the Aspergillus fumigatus spores, which are known to cause lung infection.
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Professor David Denning from the National Aspergillosis Centre in Manchester told The Daily Mail, “One load of wet washing contains almost two liters of water, which is released into the room.
“Most of us are either immune to the fungus which grows in these humid conditions, or have a sufficiently healthy system to fight the infection.”
It’s even worse for people with preexisting conditions such as asthma and those with weak or damaged immune systems.
“The fungus can cause pulmonary aspergillosis—a condition which can cause irreparable, and sometime fatal, damage to the lungs and sinuses.”
Craig Mather, for example, was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1997, rendering his lungs weak and worsened the problems he had due to childhood asthma.
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“I only started to recover when my consultant diagnosed chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and prescribed me special drugs to fight the fungal infection,” he said.
“However, I noticed coughing fits and night sweats particularly when I had wet washing drying on the warm bedroom radiator.
For those who are guilty of the practice, professor David advises that “they dry wet washing outside, in a tumble dryer or in a well-ventilated indoor space away from bedrooms and living areas to be safe rather than sorry.”
What is Aspergillosis?
A group of ailments caused by a fungal mold called aspergillus, aspergillosis affects the respiratory system (windpipe, sinuses and lungs).
But it can also travel from the windpipe, sinuses or lungs to anywhere in the body.
Depending on its severity, aspergillosis’s symptoms can fall anywhere between mild wheezing to coughing up blood.
The ailment is caused by breathing in small spores of aspergillus mold. Typically, when it enters the body, one’s immune system quickly isolates and destroys the mold before it can spread to their lungs.
A person with damaged lungs or a weakened immune system, however, is more likely to develop aspergillosis when exposed to the mold.
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