While bringing home a live Christmas tree marks the beginning of the holiday season for many, the mold that thrives on its branches can trigger weeks of suffering for some, a new study shows.
Connecticut researchers have found that the mold count from a live Christmas tree rose to five times the normal level two weeks after the tree was brought indoors, and that can prove problematic for people with mold allergies.
The researchers studied the mold growth of a live Christmas tree in a house in Connecticut. Mold reproduce by releasing spores into the air, so after the live Christmas tree was brought inside the house and decorated, the researchers measured mold spore counts. These counts were taken 12 times over a two-week period between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6. The researchers did not assess the types of mold or whether these molds triggered allergic symptoms in people living in the house.
The study found that the mold spore count was 800 spores per square meter (m3) for the first three days. Normal spore counts are less than 1,000 spores/m3, said Hemmers. However, the spore count rose after day four, reaching a maximum of 5,000 spores/m3 by day 14.
Although Christmas trees are not a problem for most people with allergies."If one is mold-allergic, running an air cleaner in the same room as the tree could theoretically reduce the mold exposure, but this has not been studied,.
