Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

The School Mold Case That Took Years to Recognize #shorts

24 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In 1985, 160 people in a school near Lake Tahoe got sick, but the CDC called it psychosomatic. It took a decade to discover mold in the building was the cause. The case exposed how doctors dismiss unexplained illnesses and led to the identification of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.

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It was the winter of 1985 in Kine Village, a town along Lake Tahoe. And 160 people suddenly got ill. What happened? The CDC came out, investigated. In the end, nothing's here. It's all in their head. Mainly teachers, mainly women. What actually was going on? They later found out the majority of these people actually had met in a room filled full of mold. It took almost 10 years, recurrent investigations, local physicians on the spot to figure out what actually made these women sick. Was actually the building itself, the school they're at. Why have we overlooked this for so many years? The same thing actually happened with the person who found Chronic inflammatory response syndrome, mold related illness. But why do we overlook these things? Because our healthcare system is stuck in ruts. We have the way we do things and we don't want to change because we're experts, we know what the right thing is. Nothing could be further from the truth. And because of this, people have been hurt over the years, over the decades. This has been happening for centuries. Actually. It's not new. And learning about and knowing to look for it can actually help you prevent this blind spot from happening in your life and you becoming medically gaslit. And if you have a story you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it. We're in the process of putting lots of information together to share with you to help you avoid this blind spot.