Ohio State has spent $132,319 to move about 30 College of Engineering employees from a building where two workers possibly contracted a serious lung disease last spring.

OSU began moving workers from Hitchcock Hall after the two stricken workers retained an attorney. All of the employees are from the college’s Career Services department and are now working in Mason Hall.

The women contend they contracted the fungal infection histoplasmosis after OSU workmen installed fans in the ceiling of their office suite in Hitchcock. The fans blew histoplasmosis spores out of the ceiling into the suite and sickened the women, said David Shroyer, an attorney who represents them.

“There is no evidence of any problem in that building in terms of those issues,” said President E. Gordon Gee in an interview with the Lantern on Jan. 12. It is “one of the great mysteries” and “an act of God” how the women became ill, he said.

The workers were trying to clean the suite after a water line broke and flooded the area March 12. The fans were installed in an attempt to dry out the suite.

The university had planned to renovate that part of Hitchcock but decided to begin the work sooner because staffers in the suite were growing increasingly worried about their health. The university will have an estimate of the renovation cost next month, said Amy Murray, assistant director of media relations.

College of Engineering administrators met with Hitchcock workers Nov. 3 and the evacuation of the suite began soon after.

Administrators met with faculty, staff and students again on Dec. 3.

Some employees were offered free chest X-rays to determine if anyone else had suffered lung damage.

Rosemary Hill, director of Engineering Career Services, supervised many of the workers in the affected area and about a dozen of those opted for the X-rays.

The X-rays did not reveal any lung disease in any of them. Only the two original employees Hill supervises that were diagnosed with histoplasmosis showed positive test results.

“Everybody can breathe a sigh of relief, really,” said Hill.

Hill said she knew of three other other people in the suite who have possible symptoms of the disease.

OSU also asked Hitchcock workers to complete forms detailing any illnesses or symptoms they had between March and December — the period when the 2 women contracted histoplasmosis.

The women who got sick were Olga Stavridis, associate director of engineering career services, and Amy Franklin, an office manager for the same area.

A count containing results of the number of people in the suite with positive chest X-Ray results or possible symptoms of the illness will not be provided by the university, Murray said.

“We believe the information is personal and therefore protected,” Murray said.

Histoplasmosis is an infection that is caused by a fungus that develops in bat and bird droppings. It is typically found in this area, but almost never causes severe symptoms unless someone is exposed to a large number of spores or has a weak immune system.

OSU officials say several investigations by OSU internal offices and outside consultants have concluded that there is very little risk for any other individuals in the building.

Shroyer thinks the chain of events leading to Stavridis’s illness are clear. After the flood, box fans were placed in the ceiling above Stavridis, and blew debris containing histoplasmosis spores down that she then inhaled. Within the expected time frame for histoplasmosis symptoms to occur, Stavridis became sick, he said.

After she was diagnosed with the illness, it was clear why she was sick.

“It’s called connect the dots. It’s not a mystery,” Shroyer said.

Franklin’s illness was not identified until October. Franklin was in Stavridis’s office on a frequent basis, Shroyer said.

Shroyer’s firm is continuing to investigate and evaluate the cases for both, and then decisions will be made. To date, his office has not been in communication with OSU attorneys, Shroyer said.
Additional testing on buildings surrounding Hitchcock has been cancelled.

“EH&E recommended the additional buildings on the engineering campus not be tested because of the endemic nature of the fungus and the preliminary results from their tests,” said a Dec. 3 memo from Interim Dean Washington to faculty, staff and students at the
College of Engineering.

In December, the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation closed a complaint regarding Hitchcock Hall. For now, the employees Hill supervises are just trying to move forward since their shift to Mason Hall.

“I think people are feeling a lot calmer and more reassured at this point,” Hill said.

More information regarding histoplasmosis testing, and meeting notes from the Dec. 3 meeting, can be found at engineering.osu.edu/environmentalreport.