5 Dangerous House Molds

5 Dangerous House Molds

These molds should NOT be in a clean, healthy home!

Aspergillus

Dangerous Molds

This mold has hundred of species spread throughout the globe. In a home environment, humid conditions allow them to grow on leather and cloth fabrics. Other species may also grow on grains and exposed food. They produce toxic metabolites and severe allergic reactions in individuals.

It is estimated people inhale thousands of Aspergillus spores daily, but our immune systems can fight them off — but the fungi itself can infect the lungs of someone with a suppressed immune system, a disease called Aspergillosis. There, it thrives off the warm, moist environment of the lung’s alveoli.

Chaetomium

Chaetomium Dangerous Molds

This “hairy” looking mold is considered a contaminant and a causative agent of infections. There have been cases involving immune suppression, brain abscesses, peritonitis, and onychomycosis.

Cladosporium

Cladosporium Dangerous Molds

These produce olive-green to brown or black colonies. This mold has spores with a wide dispersion rate. Like most molds, it prefers a surface where moisture is present. Although not typically pathogenic to humans, it can cause skin and toenail infections and is a sinus and lung irritant. The spores are a known allergen.

Penicillium

Penicillium Dangerous Molds

It looks like a newly budding tree underneath a microscope.

Causes allergic reactions in both skin and bronchial tests. It may cause an infection called “mucrosis” in immune compromised individuals such as the young, the elderly, or unwell.

It produces a strong musty order, as well as causing food spoiling and the destruction of leather goods. This fungus produces the neurotoxin verrucosidin as well as acids cyclopiazonic and penicillic. The liver, the kidney, and the neurological systems can all be adversely affected by this poison. Fever, anemia, weight changes, and skin lesions are common symptoms of having been exposed.

Certain species produce penicillin, used to create antibiotics.

Stachybotrys chartarum

Stachybotrys Dangerous Molds

The infamous “black mold”, Stachybotrys produces some of the most dangerous toxins of molds commonly found in the household. It feeds off the cellulose-rich building material such as gypsum and wallpaper, especially where there has been water damage or high moisture readings. It is possibly linked to the sick building syndrome.

Stachybotrys poisoning causes pulmonary hemorrhaging, sinus irritation, headaches, and irritability. It suppresses the immune system, allowing other opportunistic infections to take hold.

Most molds come in a variety of colors — from black, beige, white, green, brown, and so on. While not all visually black mold is Stachybotrys chartarum, the risk is definitely there.

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