Is Mold Dangerous?
When we talk about molds we usually think about those pesky growth of fuzzy materials in our old shoes, or furniture that has been in storage for quiet some time. Not much of a health risk right?
Wrong! In the past decades or less, we have only started to realize and understand the possible health risks that may happen when we inhale, ingest or when our skins come in contact with molds.
An example of how dangerous molds can be is the Stachybotrys chartarum fungus or most commonly known as black or toxic mold.
Black mold was first described as Stachybotrys atra by Corda in 1837, when samples were found on a wallpaper collected in a home in Prague.
This fungi is a member of the Deuteromycetes, order Moniliales, family Dematiaceae, and is common on plant debris and in soil.
Mold requires constant moisture in order to grow.
Stachybotrys chartarum, or black mold is a fungus that has become notorious as a mycotoxin producer that can cause animal and human mycotoxicosis.
S. Chartarum is a greenish-black mold that is commonly found outdoors and sometimes found in damp or flooded homes.
Further Recommended Reading :
Joslyn from the MoldBlogger Team
14 comments
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this didnt help at allis black mold dangerous
Colleen,
My straight answer to you without any other background information is yes, black mold is dangerous.
Toxic black mold is dangerous to human health and should be avoided as much as possible.
Hope this helps,
Joslyn from the MoldBlogger team
We have a home that a elderly friend lived in but has recently moved out.It had a approx. 28 inches of standing water in the basement that could of possibly been there for more than a year.Her son has hired my husband to remove everything in the home.We have gotten rid of all of the furniture that has fillings(couch,
mattresses etc.)There are tables,air cleaners and a refrigerator that we would like to keep are they safe?There is mold on the walls especially in the bathroom. Thanks for your help Ellen
Today i had found black mold in the bathroom, is that bad at all? It wasn’t necisarilly big, actually, it was rather small. I was just concerned. Please coment me back. All do respects~ Cheryl
i found a lot of mold that looked black in color on my baby’s clothes that were damp and left in the car for a few weeks during the hot summer. i washed them off at home with dreft and am keeping the clothes that seem clean. what should i do with the others that still look like they have black stains etched into them?? is it the dangerous black mold??
we have black mold spreading in our kitchen and it started out from a tap leak and now the bench top has expanded and mold is spreading through our cubords what is the best way to get rid of it,we can’t aford a new kitchen
we recently found 3 corners of the basement sweating from havig fish tanks in the basement , it being a tad damp and no air flow.
the one wall we cut about 28 inches of drywall back. the other room I air and fan dried it has cedar on the walls I got most the water
the last room that worries me came after i noticed the other 2 concer was i found mold along the base boards and carpet area.
it still smaells a bit musty.
I bleached the baseboard and carpet area then Steam cleaned the enges with hand bissel then sprayed Thyme indutrial type mold growth stopper.
Do i need pull out carpets , How do Iknow if an issue under them
I noticed mold inside the clear caulking in my bathtub. I had my son dig it out and treat it with clorox then recaulk it. However, there are brown spots on the ceiling and just today I noticed some black stuff in the corner of my shower. Is this mold? Have not noticed any smells.
I recently became very ill due to Black Mold. I had bought a Townhouse and after a few weeks of being in there I thought I had the flu. Vomiting constantly for months. After 1 year of this because what it has done to me physically I have been diagnosed with Barretts disease and now still am battling Pylori. I’m on amoxicillin and Flagyl. I had been hospitalized 3 times but they could not figure out what the problem was until a contractor came to the house and noticed in the basement where he was about to fix a leaking pipe that mold, large amounts, were behind the drywall. Will I ever get better now with the antibiotics that I’m on?
My bathroom has been having a strong smell that immediately makes my nose itch upon entering the bathroom. My nose is constantly feeling like I have an attack of hay fever. I have been sleeping all day everyday in recent months. My hubby thought perhaps it may be a mold problem we are having. I noticed the baseboards were warping, hall flooring warping also. We have textured walls and ceilings and it looks like the raised texture seems to have a darkened color about it. Does this sound like I am going to die soon, cause at times I feel as though. I hope that we can fix this ourselves, we could not be able to afford professionals . Is that possible?
Had a fire in the building water pour down from the fire truck down basement apartment they have those heated to dry the water it been two week feel some tack of way when not at home feel better what should I do