Optimizing the Nasal Biome: Marcons, Mold & Probiotics

One of the major complications of CIRS and mold illness is a type of sinus infection known as marcons. Marcons stands for Multiple Antibiotic Resistant Coagulase Negative Staphylococci. Marcons is a type of staph bacteria that produces a biofilm, making it difficult to eradicate. in addition to resulting in sinusitis symptoms, marcons is believed to complicate CIRS treatment, and there’s speculation that marcons can suppress MSH (melanocyte stimulating hormone) production in the brain, leading to disorder and chaos within the immune and endocrine systems. Recent research into the nasal biome suggests that marcons is only one possible microbial imbalance among patients with CIRS and rhinosinusitis. This article focusses on the need to implement a more holistic strategy for marcons, sinusitis, and rhinitis by establishing the normal nasal bacterial biome.

Having spent a considerable amount of time working with clients who suffer from CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome), and the complications associated with mold exposure, I’ve come to a deeper appreciation for the body’s mechanisms of checks and balances. I’ve discussed many of these concepts at length with some of the most well respected CIRS physicians and practitioners, and have come to appreciate the difficulties and various complications when attempting to correct the multi-system atrophies that arise.

For many years it has been known that marcons is a difficult to eradicate nasal infection because of the biofilm the bacteria produces. Conventional antibiotic treatments (such as BEG spray) and antimicrobial herbal treatments for marcons are hit and miss, with a success rate somewhere around 50% or less. Many complications seem to arise as a result of these treatments, often making sinusitis symptoms worse.

The Nasal Microbiome: Key To Re-establishing Bacterial Balance

First of all, its critical that if mold exposure is the cause of fungal rhinitis or sinusitis symptoms, the building needs to be remediated, and the patient needs to go somewhere else during the remediation process. I cannot emphasize this enough. The ERMI HERTSMI test from Mycometrics has demonstrated over and over again to be incredibly important for establishing the baseline toxicity of water-damaged buildings and to gauge the level of safety for the CIRS patient once remediation is completed.

When patients do the nasal swab culture for marcons using Microbiology Dx labs, the lab assesses the presence of a few additional microorganisms which may show up. If marcons is detected, they rate the intensity of biofilm production and the overall strength or virulence of the bacteria. While this is good, the test doesn’t give us a full picture of the entire state of the nasal microbiome. Based upon existing literature, it is known that significant differences exist regarding nasal biome composition among sinusitis patients compared to healthy controls (1).

For example, its been observed that nasal lactobacillus species are significantly lower in sinusitis (1), (5),  with a notable reduction in lactobacillus sakei. Higher levels of gram negative anaerobes such as Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum have been observed (1). Another review on nasal microbiota among sinusitis patients found frequently higher amounts of marcons, staph aureus and Propionibacterium acnes (4). Its also a common finding in sinusitis sufferers to exhibit a variety of gram positive and negative bacteria such as pseudomonas, haemophilus and citrobacter (1).

Oral consumption of lactobacillus paracasei-33 was shown to positively benefit patients suffering from allergic rhinitis (2). The use of the oral probiotic streptococcus salivarius K12 was associated with reduced episodes of rhinitis and tonsillitis among children (3), showing benefit for the oral and respiratory and nasal biomes. Lactobacillus sakei may be one of the pivotal bacterial strains for restoration of the nasal biome. In a comparative microbiome analysis, researchers identified L. sakei as a potentially protective species, defending agains tuberculostearicum-induced sinus infection (5). Numerous anecdotal reports suggest that sakei improves symptoms of sinusitis and rhinitis, with many subjects using sakei-containing kimchi probiotics to modulate symptoms.

It has been proposed based upon existing literature, that individuals may harbor pathogenic microbes as long as these microbes do not overpower the resident nasal flora (1). Therefore, we must consider that the approach of attempting to eradicate marcons without attention to the restoration of the resident nasal flora may be futile and even harmful. Future therapies that are designed to supplement oral and intranasal probiotic strains, and to enhance their colonization appears to represent the new treatment era of marcons, fungal rhinitis and sinusitis-related symptoms.