Global Indoor Health Network
Kilburn
Kaye Kilburn M.D.
Dr. Kaye Kilburn investigated asbestosis, byssinosis, mold, mycotoxins and hydrogen sulfide. He conducted one of the most extensive studies into asbestos, helping to expose its danger in an industrial setting. His work with cotton dust helped set the modern standard for respiratory care and testing.
In 1958, Dr. Kilburn developed a cardiopulmonary research laboratory at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Nutritional Laboratory at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado. In 1963, he established a new and novel division of Environmental Medicine at Duke Hospital.
His work was included in a 1986 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report that helped changed the way the nation views tobacco use---leading to warnings on cigarette packages and other legislation to curb the damaging effects of smoking.
Dr. Kilburn was one of the earliest members of the Collegium Ramazzini, elected in 1983.
The Collegium Ramazzini is an independent, international academy founded in 1982 by Irving J. Selikoff, Cesare Maltoni and other eminent scientists. It is comprised of 180 internationally renowned experts in the fields of occupational and environmental health. The mission of the Collegium Ramazzini is to advance the study of occupational and environmental health issues and to be a bridge between the world of scientific discovery and the social and political centers which must act on the discoveries of science to protect public health.
The Collegium Ramazzini was named in honor of Dr. Bernardino Ramizzini. He created the science of occupational medicine in the 17th Century in Italy. Dr. Ramizzini demonstrated the importance of talking directly with workers and of visiting workplaces to investigate the working environment in order to improve it. He focused on the need for providing workers with adequate information about health hazards, and he suggested practical measures to protect workers from illness and injury.
In our paper
titled “Indoor Air Contaminants,” we refer to the renowned book written by Dr. Ramizzini in 1700 titled De Morbis Artificum (Diseases of Workers). It discusses the health hazards affecting workers in 40 different occupations, including chemicals, dust, metals and other agents.
In 1987, Dr. Kilburn founded his own practice, Neuro-Test Inc., to study neurobehavioral and pulmonary impairment as a result of exposure to common chemicals including mold, hydrogen sulfide, diesel, pesticides and insecticides.
In regard to patients exposed to molds, mycotoxins and chemicals, Dr. Kilburn demonstrated the benefits of neurocognitive testing as these toxins cross the blood brain barrier. In his treatment of patients, he used many of the methods described in this section and also used Dr. Grace Ziem’s oxidative stress protocol (Neural Sensitization Protocol or NSP) which targets the increased oxidative stress associated with both inflammation and toxicity.
Toxic encephalopathy is an enormous issue throughout the world. Mycotoxins are one of the myriad classes of natural and synthetic toxins well established in a massive, worldwide peer-reviewed literature as causally related to neuro toxicity. One of the major contributions to the study, understanding and treatment of toxic encephalopathy was Dr. Kilburn’s neurologic test battery. He developed these tests on the premise that global neurotoxins affected the brain globally, and that any test that measured the functions of the brain that required a large mass of brain cells to perform, ought to be able to demonstrate the compromising impact of neurological toxins. On that theory, he amassed twenty-six (26) neurologic tests that demonstrated remarkably reproducible results in human subjects. Included among them were measurements of nine (9) neurophysiological and seventeen (17) neurocognitive parameters. If you would like to have more information about these 26 tests, please contact us.
In each of 5 EPA clean communities in the U.S., several hundred subjects selected randomly from the general public were used to validate the test battery. In Arizona, it was Wickenburg, where 405 Subjects were tested; 1/3 scored perfect scores; 1/3 failed one test measure, not always the same test; 2/3 had 2 failing points. No one scored more than 3 failing tests.
Kaye Kilburn, M.D.
Among 300 water-damaged building exposed patients tested by Dr. Gray, the average number of failed tests using the Kilburn test array was 9.5. Utilizing variations of the treatment protocol described below, Dr. Gray observed gradual but steady return to normal on serial batteries of the Kilburn Neuro-Test battery in many of his patients. This not only demonstrated the potential for full recovery from mycotoxin poisoning, but it also confirmed the plasticity of the nervous system, and its ability to heal from mycotoxin driven poisonings, that amplify the neurodegenerative morbidity.
Mycotoxins are prominent among them. Ochratoxins, aflatoxins, and trichothecenes, like many other persistent organic pollutants, cause Toxic Encephalopathies, including but not limited to Multiple Sclerosis, mid-brain based, physiologically measureable, movement disorders, including chorea, dystonia, obsessive compulsive disorders, seizure disorders, ADD, ADHD, Autism Spectrum disorders, dementias, Parkinsonian Syndromes, tremors, and chronic mild to severe cognitive decline, and chronic fatigue, as presented in the recent award-winning documentary “Unrest.”
All of the conditions above have been demonstrated to respond favorably to the use of sequestrants, antioxidants, and mitochondrial support as described in several of the treatment protocols shared below.
As Dr. Kilburn described in a 2009 paper:
Colonization of nasal sinuses and local extension; tissue destruction and swelling, coupled with systemic toxicity produce extreme fatigue, headache, hearing loss, joint pain, tremors, depression, and direct central nervous system effects with abnormal balance, loss of concentration and of verbal recall, and long-term memory.
Poisoning by inhaling mycotoxins can explain multi-organ symptoms and neurological impairment for balance, reaction time, muscle strength, color discrimination, visual field performance, hearing, and blink reflex latency. Cognitive performance, verbal recall, and long-term memory are impaired, especially the ability to recognize missing items in standard pictures (Kilburn, 2009). This pattern is identical to that after exposure to H2S, chlorine, solvents, and other single toxic chemicals that are small molecules.
This paper goes on to explain the evolution of this problem, including the use of gypsum wallboard/drywall (which is a food source for mold) to build homes and schools after World War II. He also discusses the transport of spores across the planet including the death of coral reefs in the Caribbean and a significant increase in asthma caused by mold traced to the deserts of Africa and Asia borne in trade winds.
Crossing the country with other pollutants like lead and mercury, the isotopes of which show the African origin of the dust spores, that land everywhere.
Dr. Kilburn published more than 250 research papers throughout his career. He passed away on August 7, 2014.