First of all, having any mold is a problem. If you have any kind of mold in your home that is a bad sign, because where one kind of mold can grow others can grow also. The species stachybotrys, which is the proper scientific name of toxic black mold, is extremely common in North America in soil. So it is not that big of a stretch to get stachybotrys in your home if you have other kinds of mold thriving there.
One indicator of whether your mold is toxic black mold is the place it is growing. Stachybotrys likes to eat cellulose, which means wood or paper or other natural fibers. If it is on concrete, tile or plastic you are probably not dealing with the nasty stuff. If it is on the drywall, also known as the brand name Sheetrock or gypsum board, you are more likely to have a problem because the surface of this material is paper. Also, many types of insulation use paper as a backing, and mold can grow on that.
Should you worry about toxic black mold? Certainly if you have an infant in the house or anyone who is in frail condition. A number of infant deaths in Cleveland in the early 90s were attributed to toxic black mold. Toxic black mold is also implicated in a wide variety of other symptoms, from cold symptoms to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
]]>Now what?
Now your thoughts have turned from asking simply What is black mold? and learning about black mold symptoms and the symptoms of black mold exposure to black mold removal. How do you get rid of this stuff?
First off, don’t do it yourself. It’s just not a good idea. Toxic black mold spreads its poison by releasing microscopic spores that float through the air and end up getting breathed in by you and your family. It’s bad enough that they are already in your home. If you go in without knowing what you are doing, you could make the problem much worse by spreading spores throughout your home.
You could end up being the mold’s best friend!
Despite having been warned, some of you may still be thinking about doing it yourself anyway. Before you do anything, make sure you understand containment principles, negative air pressure, and dust minimizing techniques.
]]>One of the main symptoms of black mold exposure include, for example, cold symptoms, like a cough, runny nose and sore throat. Obviously, having a cold doesn’t mean you have mold in your home. But what if you have had cold symptoms for months that just don’t go away? That would be reason to start looking for a more unusual cause such as toxic black mold.
Another symptom of black mold exposure is chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS. CFS itself is very hard to diagnose, because its symptoms can seem subjective and vague. So in some ways this is more difficult, since you don’t even know for sure you have symptoms, let alone knowing what the cause is.
Other symptoms of black mold exposure caninclude hair loss, itchy flaking skin, headache, diarrhea, and memory loss.
The thing to ask yourself when trying to figure out whether mold could be connected to your illness is, Do I have a moisture problem anywhere in my house that could lead to mold? Have I had a recent flooding incident that could have caused mold?
If your answer to these questions is no, then mold is probably not the cause of your symptoms.
]]>There are many different species of mold, which, along with mushrooms and yeast, is actually a fungus. To some extent, any mold growth in your home is a problem because mold will lead to increased allergy problems and other side effects, as well as causing structural damage.
Stachybotrys is the mold most commonly referred to as black mold. It is a problem in homes because it grows well on wood and paper, both of which are in abundance in homes. You may not realize it, but the unpainted interior walls of your home are probably drywall, which is coated with paper and is a prime habitat for stachybotrys.
Stachybotrys gets into homes that have water intrusion in some form. Spores can be brought in by groundwater coming in through flooding, or spores can be present in building materials in the home and get activated by a plumbing leak, for example.
Black mold is commonly found on the paper backing of drywall or gypsum board, but can also grow on the paper backing of insulation, wallpaper, paper or cellulose ceiling tiles, wood, and even carpets containing natural fibers.
]]>The Centers for Disease Control led a study in 1994 to find out what was causing the strange frequency of lung bleeding, also called pulmonary hemorrhage (PH). The study found a strong correlation between the presence of toxic black mold, particularly stachybotrys atra, and the sick children. There was also noted a high incidence of smoking in those homes.
It is thought that poisons called mycotoxins, contained in the microscopic spores of stachybotrys, cause a further weakening of the relatively fragile blood vessels of the infants’ lungs. The addition of cigarette smoke in the home or other illnesses adds to the stress on the lungs making the lungs bleed. Bleeding in the lungs shows symptoms such as a chronic cough or nosebleeds.
The Cleveland case is likely to be an indication of a nationwide problem, as there have been over 100 similar cases of pulmonary hemorrhage in infants across the country, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University, an NIH-funded research center.
]]>One day as she walked into the upstairs bathroom the musty odor she had almost gotten used to triggered a vision of mold. She had heard about mold problems in houses before. But where was it?
“I called a home inspector who specialized in mold,” said Carla. “Within a few minutes he had opened up the bathroom wall and called me to come look inside.”
What Carla saw inside the damp wall was a large patch of dark green slime with white edges. Later the inspector found a slow leak in the faucet valve that was causing the mold.
We all have mold in our home somewhere, and ordinary mold is not usually harmful. But “black mold” refers to certain kinds of mold that are dangerous. The technical name for these dangerous molds is stachybotrys, and it is often called stachybotrys chartarum or stachybotrys atra. It is a very common mold in North America.
Stachybotrys mold is dangerous because its spores — the microscopic seeds it releases into the air to spread itself — contain harmful toxic substances called mycotoxins (actually all mold spores contain mycotoxins but stachybotrys mycotoxins are unusually harmful). People breathe these spores and the toxin gets into their system, causing all kinds of unhealthy symptoms.
There are other molds with dangerous mycotoxins, notably Aspergillus, but Stachybotrys is the one that is most commonly found in homes.
]]>Symptoms can be relatively mild although still troublesome, such as cold and flu symptoms, headaches, sore throat, dermatitis, and hair loss. A 1999 study by the Mayo Clinic indicated that most chronic sinus infections, a problem affecting 37 million Americans, are caused by mold.
More serious and debilitating black mold symptoms can include chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), memory loss, lack of attention span, achiness, dizziness, diarrhea and asthma. According to a 1999 USA Today article, mold is implicated in a threefold increase in asthma cases over the past two decades.
Most troubling, toxins from black mold have been implicated in fatal lung hemmorhage. In one particular 1993-1994 case, Black Mold was implicated in the fatal lung hemmorhages of several infants in Cleveland, Ohio. Black mold has also been linked to cancer.
Health problems related to mold have been documented in humans and animals since the 1930s. Animal tests have indicated the black mold toxins, known as mycotoxins, attack the lungs, brain, thymus, spleen, heart, lymph nodes, kindeys and liver.
]]>