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Is Mold Destroying My Health?

There’s an unpleasant but inescapably true answer to this question: If there are molds growing in the areas you either live or work in, IT IS EFFECTING YOUR HEALTH! Symptoms may not show themselves for a long time in some people due to differences in health: immune system, allergies, asthma, etc. Mold itself may or may not be problems in the beginning, but the spores mold produce in order to reproduce will spread into the air of living and working quarters easily, even invading ventilation systems, which forces them through buildings into other areas quickly and effortlessly. Mold can enter the body three ways. It can be absorbed, ingested, or inhaled.

Mold can affect people in three different ways: allergy, infection, and through toxicity. Not all types of mold can do all three of these things, and while there are only a small group that’s known to be pathogenic to humans, every species is potentially allergenic and any species could cause infections in susceptible people.

Mold’s Allergenic Potential:
Symptoms of allergies to mold are coughing, wheezing, stuffy or runny nose, headaches, sore throat, fatigue, and dizziness, even reduction of the acuteness of the senses and lack of will. These symptoms will logically be more prominent in people who’re already allergic to mold, but new allergies can be developed after only one exposure, and long term exposure will only make these symptoms worse.

Mold can grow upon dust, which can create Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome (ODTS), and can cause severe cold or flu-like symptoms. Mold also produces things called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which create most of the damp, musty or moldy smells related to mold growth. The majority of VOCs are ethanol, alcohols and ketones, and they in themselves are not yet understood to contribute to human health problems. In many situations the odors could remain somewhat separate from airborne mold spores, and a moldy odor can’t necessarily prove that indoor air is contaminated. Mold testing would need to be done to insure this theory. The study of VOCs is still underway.

Large moisture problems in themselves, even in the hours before causing mold to grow, already bring extensive amounts of extra microorganisms and other organic products into the area. Dust, bacteria, insect parts, fecal matter, etc. can cause many of the same symptoms that mold has been known to cause. With respect to this it’s always advised to perform mold testing before starting a remediation project. These microorganisms, fungal in nature or not, need to be eliminated from indoor air completely, not just killed. In extensive mold contamination, complete HEPA grade filtration is necessary after cleaning, killing and removing mold.

Mold’s Infective Potential:
There are estimated to be more than a million species of fungi in the world and of them only a few thousand are commonly found in the living environments of human beings. Of that thousand or so many have been reported to have caused infections in humans, animals and plants. Certain genera, like Aspergillus for example, have many species known to cause infections, allergies and produce toxins that can make people sick. Aspergillosis is the main infectious disease caused by Aspergillus, but the disease can come in many forms, ranging from lesser, allergy style illnesses, to fatal diseases characterized by actual mold growth (called a fungal ball) in the lungs or other organs, where it produces toxins, eats away at the organ’s lining, and eventually leads to necrosis, and death if untreated.

There are many types of aspergillosis, and they’re only the effects of one genera of mold. Invasive Aspergillosis can kill people with compromised immune systems. Other diseases caused by known pathogenic molds are: Blastomycosis, Candidiasis, Coccidioidomycosis, Cryptococcosis, Histoplasmosis, Paracoccidiomycosis, Sporotrichosis, and Zygomycosis. Like Aspergillosis, many of these diseases come in more than one form, and they can all infect nearly any part of the body.

Mold’s Potential Toxicity:
There are many species of mold known to produce toxins, which, when ingested (the majority of cases have resulted from actual ingestion, but when mold spores are contaminating the air, it greatly raises the possibility of this) can lead to some potentially fatal diseases. The species of fungi known as Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) has for centuries now been known to cause a disease called ergotism, which can initiate gangrene in limbs, and even lead to death. Ergot commonly infects wheat and rye, and is in turn ingested by people who eat it. The mold, Stachybotrys Chartarum can produce toxins that reduce white blood cell count, cause hemorrhaging and even death!

Other molds that can produce toxins are: Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium graminearum, Memnoniella, and some 200 or so others. Not all mycotoxins produced by molds are actually bad, but there are enough of them being produced these days inside homes for one to be concerned.

This by no means should suggest one should panic. As long as one rectifies water problems quickly after they occur, keeps one’s living quarters clean and well ventilated, mold problems should not manifest. Toxigenic molds require special conditions like: unfixed moisture issues, high humidity, poor ventilation, and usually several days to weeks of time, in order to produce their deadly byproducts. With this in mind, one merely has to maintain a clean living space to ensure one’s health against mold.

Questions?  Contact:  info@traskresearch.com

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