Extreme fatigue and malaise--a syndrome caused by badly cleaned wall-to-wall carpets?

Abstract

Complaints connected with the indoor climate are often vague and a cause-effect relationship is difficult to demonstrate. The present paper describes two patients suffering from symptoms in the form of extreme fatigue and malaise. The patients connected their problems to the poorly cleaned working place. We found the working place to be covered with badly cleaned wall-to-wall carpet. Examination of 12 employees showed five to have symptoms related to the working place. Four of the five had precipitating antibodies against extracts of dust collected from the carpets and two of the five had a positive prick test to the same extract. After removal of the carpets all symptoms disappeared. We conclude that vague symptoms related to the indoor climate may be induced by accumulation of organic dust.