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Students from the University of Maryland worry more and more about mold problems in their dorms could be linked to the death of a freshman who succumbed to the same virus that killed 11 children in New Jersey.
Olivia Paregol, 18, was at the beginning of her first semester when she developed a cough, which then worsened to become pneumonia. She died Nov. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital following an adenovirus, which causes breathing problems.
Paregol, from Howard County, Maryland, died less than three weeks after the school had learned that she was suffering from the disease. The university has since said that five other students had diseases related to the same rare virus.
Jessica Thompson told CBS News that she and her roommate had found mold on their shoes and clothes in their dorm in August – and were convinced that the fungus had made them sick.
"You can not sleep at night because the pillow is right next to the mold and you're up all night to cough," Thompson said. "We had to go home on weekends and everything would be fine at home. We would come back and sniff and cough, then we would have headaches. "
After the roommates repeatedly alerted university officials, the couple – along with about 500 other students – were transferred to temporary housing while the school was working to clean the dormitories, Thompson said.
A STUDENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND DEATH OF AN ADENOVIRUS, 5 OTHER SICK, THE SCHOOL DIT
Ian Paregol, Olivia's father, also said that his daughter's bedroom was moldy.
Paregol told the Baltimore Sun that he thought his daughter, suffering from Crohn's disease and a weakened immune system, had been affected by a reported outbreak of mold in school earlier this year. year.
The 18-year-old student was living in Elkton Hall, one of the dormitories evacuated for cleaning.
Speaking in the sun, the grieving father said, "All the children in this dorm are sick.
"That would never have happened."
He also described his daughter in the newspaper as "just the sweetest child".
"If there were new children, she would bring it somehow and make sure that this child does not live lonely," he said.
"It was a typical freshman, enjoying the freedom offered by college while maintaining her grades."
Describing the potential impact of the mold on his daughter's death, he told CBS News: "It did not help the disease … I think it's a really fair statement. We do not know yet that there is a causal link, but it did not help things. "
Dr. David McBride, head of the university's university health center, told reporters that, while the university acknowledged that the adenovirus had affected some of his students, she did not "want to arouse unnecessary anxiety ".
"What we have done is that we have stepped up our cleanup efforts, that we are on alert here and that we are working to be diligent in following up on cases where students are sick, " he said.
Local and state health authorities are investigating the epidemic, the university said. Mold can cause respiratory symptoms, including wheezing and a stuffy nose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Earlier this fall, the same strain of adenovirus was at the center of a viral outbreak in a rehabilitation center in Wanaque, New Jersey, which killed 11 children.
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