MOLD BIOLOGY AND MOLD RELATED HEATH ISSUES

Contact us

Phone 1-888-381-6651

Photos and Information on mold biology and health issues from A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc.

BASIC MOLD BIOLOGY:

Fungi share some basic similarities with plants and bacteria but are not plants nor are they bacteria. They are in their own kingdom, the Fungi Kingdom.

The terms mold and mildew are often used interchangeably by lay persons, but according to some more specific definitions, mildew is a powdery growth that attacks and grows on living plants while molds are often fuzzy and grow on all sorts of moist surfaces. Molds, mildews, and other fungi usually reproduce by forming and releasing spores into the air. Most indoor spores are just 3 to 15 microns across, some spores are a few hundred microns long but these are still just a few microns across. The human eye can at best see objects that are 10 or more microns across. Toxins known as mycotoxins and also allergens are found primarily in the spores of various molds. These substances can be found in live or dead spores.

TOXIC MOLDS

Mycotoxins are chemicals that are sometimes produced by various species of toxic mold. These toxins are real and are powerful weapons used by toxic molds in a sort of microbial warfare to help them compete against bacteria and other molds. such as toxic black mold are common in Florida, but mold spores in residential settings, even if they are produced by toxic black mold at high levels, are not automatically at high enough levels to result in toxic effects on humans via inhalation. It takes a lot of inhaled spores to poison a person. Currently, disagreement exists as to if residential mold spore exposure levels are ever high enough to result in toxic effect on humans. Toxic effects of mold mycotoxins in humans and farm animals leading to serious illness and even death via accidental ingestion of toxic mold, etc. have been well documented in scientific literature. Effects of heavy exposure to mold toxins are many, but just two of the more common effects are immuno suppression and liver cancer. Mycotoxins are believed to result in headaches, sore throats, hair loss, flu symptoms, diarrhea, fatigue, dermatitis, general malaise (tiredness) and psychological depression." (Croft et al, 1986, Jarvis, 1995). "Other reported responses to mycotoxin exposure includes skin rashes, lesions of the skin and gastrointestinal tract, and interference with blood cell formation." (Sorenson 1993).

Human and horse exposure to stachybotrys also known as toxic black mold infested hay that caused toxic reactions in the Ukraine around the 1920's or the 1930's is well documented. Industrial level exposures of mycotoxins such as at peanut processing facilities, composting facilities, or farms has caused documented toxigenic and severe allergenic problems. Countless farm animals have died as a result of eating food contaminated with toxic molds. In one extreme example that occurred in the mid 1960's, 100,000 turkeys died in England after consuming moldy food shipped from Brazil. The causative agent was aflotoxin from aspergillus flavus mold. In several such cases of human and animal exposure, mycotoxin poisoning is well documented by scientists and doctors. For more information on documented cases and on mycotoxin, refer to The Fifth Kingdom, by Brice Kindrick or Bioaerosols from ACGIH by Harriett Burge.

It is very important to not panic but to keep in mind that to accomplish the above serious detrimental effects, toxic molds like Stachybotrys and others may have to be either:

1. consumed in mold contaminated foods,

2. physically handled so that excessive physical contact is made between human skin and the mold, or

3. the mycotoxins have to be exposed to living cells in the laboratory.

Various studies have shown that the levels of mycotoxins encountered by breathing mold spores in your home or office appear to be far too low to cause toxic reactions in humans. Of course future studies may or may not change this current opinion held by many researchers. Synergistic effects of various indoor pollutants and different mycotoxins mixing together may be more powerful than individual mycotoxin exposures. Fortunately, scientists are not in the business of performing full fledged toxicity studies on human subjects. 

However, asthma attacks, allergies, and sinus infections from mold appear to be very common and can give you just as much trouble as if you were being poisoned.

HOW TO IDENTIFY TOXIC BLACK MOLD
Stachybotrys not always, but almost always exhibits a circular growth pattern forming round colonies of about 1 inch or less to approximately 1 foot across. Sometimes the circles are complete. Other times, the circles are incomplete and form semi circles or crescent moon shapes when one side of the colony grows but the other side does not grow well, possibly due to a lack of moisture or competition with other mold types on the weaker growing side of the colony. Also, the mold often forms concentric circles of one circle inside another circle as shown in the photo. When this or most molds grow in areas where building materials have been very wet for an extended period of time, such as months as opposed to days or just a few weeks, then the colonies grow into each other. This is referred to as confluent growth and the circles are no longer distinguishable, and all you see is irregular black patches of mold growth on the wall. Stachybotrys is an extremely dark black mold. It is often reported to be shiny or slimy in appearance, however, from personal experience, this is only true when the mold is wet. When it is dry, it can be very dark black and powdery. Please note that all the above descriptions will sound wrong to a mold lab tech because the above are descriptions of how the mold looks when it grows on walls. In a petri dish the same mold probably does not grow in concentric circles and it looks more fuzzy and may start out whitish, and it turns black later as it produces spores. In the book Identifying Filamentous Fungi by Guy St-Germain and Richard Summerbell the mold growing in a petri dish can be white, pink, orange, or black on the surface; bottom of the colony can be pale, orange, pink or black. Stachybotrys requires high-cellulose, low-nitrogen food source such as drywall or cardboard and very soaking wet conditions for an extended period of time. It is a slow grower. I have seen thousands of Stachybotrys colonies and have never seen it growing on metal objects, air conditioning ducts, or clothes. It's most common habitats in homes appears to be on the underside of wet carpets, or the bottom of wet cardboard boxes or other papers, or on the surface of drywall materials. When it grows on drywall, it is actually growing on the thin paper that coats both surfaces of the drywall.

INFECTIOUS MOLDS

According to a Mayo clinic study, sinusitis caused by growth of fungus fibers or balls of fungus fibers in the sinus cavities is not unusual. This is typically caused by common Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Curvularia species. Aspergillosis caused by the growth of aspergillus species in the lungs most commonly A.fumigatus, A. flavus,  A. Niger and A. territus species typically occurs in persons with compromised immune systems or a history of lung disease that resulted in past lung damage. Common Candida albicans that causes yeast infections is a major cause of serious nosocomial (hospital acquired) fungal infections. Histoplasma capsulatium and Cryptococcus neoformans are very dangerous yeast like molds that should be assumed to be present in any bird droppings but are primarily a concern when spread to humans via inhalation of particles from accumulations of pigeon, starling, and bat droppings. Coccidioides immitis mold spores are spread from dusty soil in the southwestern United States. It sometimes causes valley fever but at other times the same fungus can be deadly. Nearly any fungi can cause infections in persons with severely compromised immune systems.  

Detection of infectious fungi such as but not limited to the above listed ones and identification of fungi to determine the species is not part of most mold inspections.

ALLERGY ASTHMA AND HYPERSENSITIVITY DISEASES

An allergic reaction occurs when your body's immune system mistakes harmless proteins in mold spores or other allergens as if these proteins were harmful microbes trying to infect your body. Your body's immune system, feeling threatened releases histamines into the blood stream and these histamines are what actually causes coughing, sneezing, and watering of the eyes. Other person's immune systems will not mistake proteins in mold spores as a microbial threat, and thus not develop allergic reactions.  Asthma is a condition where the small air sack like structures in the lungs called alveoli can contract and exhale air, but cannot properly expand to bring in new air. Mold as well as other substances are common triggers of asthma. Mold-related allergenic and asthmatic conditions in homes are very common and very serious and should be addressed and not ignored. Many serious hypersensitivity diseases in humans, such as baker's lung, wood workers lung and others are the result of exposures to molds by persons working in industries that result in long term exposure to elevated spore levels. Hypersensitivity diseases have long been well documented in science and the medical field. According to Bioaerosols assessment and control hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a hypersensitivity disease that results from the long term repeated exposure to elevated mold spore levels or other antigens. This condition can occur at in industry or agriculture where spore levels are high. It may also occur in moldy offices or homes, it produces pneumonia like symptoms with fever, cough, tightness of chest, lung infiltrates, and difficulty breathing. Once sensitized, individuals may react to extremely low, often un measurable, concentrations of antigenic materials.

Organic dust toxic syndrome is a flu like illness that results from a short term exposure to very high levels of spores, such as the levels that may be encountered by workers doing large mold remediation jobs without wearing protective respirators.  Symptoms show up several hours to a day after exposure and symptoms go away after a few days.

  See stachybotrys / toxic black mold photos below.

Behind the insulation of the perimeter walls of this 4 story Florida building, large amounts of stachybotrys mold was growing. Mold coverage was over 90% of the total area of all the perimeter walls. Everywhere that I removed insulation stachybotrys was found, virtually no other mold was growing in the building.	The leaks that caused the mold was due to a delay in roof completion during construction. At the time of inspection this building was still under construction.

Stachybotrys spores under the microscope. Both the allergenic and toxigenic components of molds are found in their highest concentrations in the spores. Note how the spores are all clumped together. This is because some molds such as fusarium and stachybotrys are slimy spore producers. The slimy spores they produce stay together till disturbed by physical agitation. In nature this may be rain drops hitting the mold, in homes it may be from a person trying to remove the mold.

In this photo you can see how stachybotrys mold growing in a petri dish looks very different that the same species of mold growing in your home.

Recommended Reference Materials For Additional Information

1) Bioaerosols Assessments and Controls, Janet Macher

American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Cincinnati, Ohio (1999)  

2) Damp Indoor Spaces and Health (2004)

Board of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine.

Contact us

Phone 1-888-381-6651

We provide Florida toxic mold testing, Florida black mold inspection by a certified mold inspector. Suspect problems with toxic black mold or stachybotrys ? Need help, advice, or facts? We have stachybotrys photos and information.