For about seven months, Donna Stewart and her 3-year-old daughter suffered from a mystery illness.

Both of them suffered from body aches, nausea, sore throat and vomiting, Stewart said. Doctors came up with various explanations for the pair’s symptoms, but couldn’t confirm anything, and Stewart was always left clueless, she said.

Then, one day this March, Stewart popped open a 42-ounce cylinder of Western Family oatmeal she’d purchased from TLC-Outlet Express and, apparently, found the alleged source of her illness staring her in the face.

It looked like a dead, decomposing mouse, Stewart said. But as she looked more carefully, she couldn’t detect a tail or a head.

She finally concluded it was mold, and as the puzzle pieces came together in her mind, she realized it may have been that mold making them sick.

Stewart describes herself as a “fanatic” when it comes to cleanliness. She’s the kind of mom who carries around portable sanitizing wipes. So it surprised her when she and her daughter suddenly became so ill, she said.

She described the symptoms as flu-like, including body aches, nausea, sore throat and vomiting. Her 3-year-old daughter vomited up to six times per day for the better part of seven months, she said.

Initially, doctors attributed her daughter’s vomiting to a “stomach bug,” Stewart said. Doctors ruled out food allergies, and at one time attributed Stewart’s symptoms to acid reflux.

It got to the point where even if her daughter wasn’t throwing up, she was almost constantly gagging, Stewart said.

On March 11, Stewart’s son decided to eat a bowl of oatmeal.

Stewart’s son ate the oatmeal less frequently — he ate it about six times between December and March, she said — but when he did, he’d complain of a sore throat, and he suffered nosebleeds — a symptom of fungal mycotoxin poisoning, she said.

On that morning, Stewart took the canister of oatmeal out of the cupboard and opened the lid.

“I tilt the canister and I go to put the scoop in there and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh! … There’s a dead mouse in this!’” she said, recalling the incident. “I said, ‘Wait a minute … It doesn’t have a tail, or it doesn’t look like it has a head,’ but that doesn’t really mean anything.”

She set the oatmeal aside and offered her son some cereal instead.

After observing the container, Stewart couldn’t find any signs of water damage that might have facilitated the growth of mold, she said. The fungus wasn’t growing on the bottom of the canister; it was sitting about three-fourths from the top, she said. It was later that day that she connected the oatmeal to her symptoms.

“I think I just found our mystery illness,” she said at the time.

Stewart called her doctor and Western Family, the company that sells the oatmeal.

Her doctor’s lab technician sent a sample of the mold to be tested and concluded it was an Alternaria fungus, she said.

After contacting Western Family, Stewart eventually connected with Ralcorp, the company that manufactures the oatmeal for Western Family.

Ralcorp asked Stewart to send in the contaminated oatmeal so they could test it.

She did so, but, on the advice of her doctor, she preserved a sample of the fungus in a plastic zip-top bag.

After she sent the sample to Ralcorp, the company suddenly wanted nothing to do with her, Stewart alleges. According to her, the company has not shared the results of their analysis of the oatmeal to date.

The company did not respond to phone calls or an email from the Nisqually Valley News by press time.

Frustrated by what she perceived as a lack of attention from the company, Stewart turned to the county health department, which suggested she contact the Food and Drug Administration.

The Food and Drug Administration came out to Yelm and tested the sample Stewart had preserved in the plastic bag.

According to the FDA’s analysis of the sample, the “main contaminants confirmed … in the sample were Alternaria toxins.”

Alternaria alternata was detected in 92 percent of the sample oat pieces tested, according to the analysis.

The analysis also found Tentotoxin and traces of Fusarium toxins.

The analysis states the concentrations of alternariol are approximate, “since insufficient amount of sample was provided … thus no additional and confirmation analysis could have been performed.”

According to a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, exposure to Alternaria alternata is associated with asthma symptoms.

A 2011 German study stated that although the acute toxicity of Alternaria toxins is low, “they are connected to certain health disorders,” and have been described as capable of causing mutations and tumors.

“Of particular health concern is the incidence of esophageal cancer in Linxin, China,” the study authors state. “The etiology of this cancer was connected with the contamination of cereal grains with A. alternata. …”

However, the study states a risk assessment of Alternaria toxins is not possible, because “only little toxicological data are available just for seven out of the 30 known Alternaria mycotoxins which is insufficient for an assessment of the health risk for the consumer.”

Even so, some Alternaria toxins are a natural contaminant in foods such as apples, tomatoes, wheat, olives, and fruit juices, according to the study authors.

“Alternaria toxins can be considered as toxic contaminant of our everyday food,” they concluded.

The FDA will use the information from its analysis of Stewart’s oatmeal in future inspections of Ralcorp, according to Theresa Eisenman of the FDA’s Office of Media Affairs.

“The FDA remains vigilant in ensuring the safety of all foods under its purview and does follow up on complaints,” Eisenman said in an email. “In addition, manufacturers and distributors generally are responsible for marketing safe food and taking steps necessary to ensure that their food products are safe and lawful.

“When FDA learns of a food safety issue, the agency takes the appropriate action deemed necessary under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to protect the consumer’s health and remove the product from the marketplace. Complaints that appear to be isolated incidents are monitored and the information is used during a future inspection of a company.”

Eisenman stated consumers should report concerns to the company that makes the food in question. They should also contact their FDA consumer complaint coordinator, who can be identified online at www.fda.gov/Safety/ReportaProblem/ConsumerComplaintCoordinators/.

Consumers can also call the FDA at 1-888-723-3366.

More information is also available at www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm049087.htm.

For Stewart, the experience has been traumatic, she said. She thinks twice about what she feeds her children and said she never wants to feed them oatmeal again.

The oatmeal she bought stated, “Best if used by Apr 11 14 N 04:30” on the bottom of the container, she said.

Stewart said she hopes if someone else got sick from the same oatmeal, they will contact the FDA.

“It could happen to anyone,” she said. “It’s much more widespread than you think.”