What is mold illness (CIRS)?

Mold illness isn't an allergy and it isn't an infection. In susceptible people, exposure to the toxins and microbial fragments in a water-damaged building triggers a chronic, body-wide inflammatory response that doesn't switch off on its own.

Clinicians often call this CIRS — Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. The immune system keeps reacting long after the exposure, which is why symptoms can persist for months or years.

Why some people and not others

Roughly a quarter of people carry immune-system genetics that make it hard to clear these biotoxins. In those people, the inflammatory signal stays switched on, while others in the same building feel fine.

That's why mold illness so often looks 'invisible' — two people share a home, one is sick and the other isn't.

The good news

CIRS is treatable. The path is consistent: reduce exposure, help the body clear the toxins, and calm the inflammation — in that order. The rest of this series walks through each step.