@sseamom – same here. H’s asthma is mild now – he uses an inhaler for vigorous exercising, hardly ever has to use it otherwise. After we moved, I started reading about mold and became aware of health issues related to moldy living arrangements, and put two and two together. My dad’s condo also had a little bit of a mildew problem, H’s asthma would flare up when we stayed there. In that case, after we helped my dad clean out his closet and get a new mattress, it helped a lot.
I’ve smelled a lot of boys dirty clothing too. Mold is different. Although, of course if you leave a pile of wet clothes lying around, chances are it will mildew . . . I’ve never noticed a mildew smell in any of my kids’ dorms. Four kids, four dorms in different colleges. Not tidy rooms, either in a couple of the cases. So there were some smells. But not mildew. It should take a long time for a water bottle to grow mold, in my experience. Actually, I don’t recall ever having that happen. Tea, coffee grow mold fairly quickly, within days. Don’t ask me how I know . . .