Recently I worked with a family in Florida with a mold infection in their home. Blood analyses showed Stachybotrys chartarum. This mold is very infectious, extremely toxic, and it appears that a lot of people have at least a mild infection. Getting rid of it improves energy state and immune function.
The ABPA is quite effective at eliminating this mold both in people and in walls.
Stachybotrys chartarum: The Toxic Indoor Mold
Berlin D. Nelson, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, North Dakota State University, Fargo ([email protected])
Stachybotrys chartarum is a fungus that has become notorious as a mycotoxin producer that can cause animal and human mycotoxicosis. Indeed, over the past 15 years in North America, evidence has accumulated implicating this fungus as a serious problem in homes and buildings and one of the causes of the “sick building syndrome.” In 1993-1994, there was an unusual outbreak of pulmonary hemorrhage in infants in Cleveland, Ohio, where researchers found S. chartarum growing in the homes of the sick infants. This incident increased the awareness of home/building molds and brought this fungus to the immediate attention of the medical community. In recent years there has been a cascade of reports about toxic molds in the national media. The New York Times Magazine, August 12, 2001, ran a front page story on toxic mold. Newspaper articles (Fig. 1) such as “Fungus in ‘Sick’ Building” (New York Times, May 5, 1996) or “Mold in schools forces removal of Forks kids” (Fargo Forum, June 1997) are eye-catching news items. The nationally syndicated comic strip Rex Morgan ran a series on Stachybotrys, and television news shows have run entire programs on Stachybotrys contamination of homes. The fungus has resulted in multimillion dollar litigations and caused serious problems for homeowners and building managers who must deal with the human issues and remediation.
As a mycologist, I have been advising public officials and the general public on the issues concerning indoor molds. Our region experienced one of the greatest natural disasters of modern times when the Red River flooded in 1997. In Grand Forks, ND, alone, there were 9,000 flooded homes. There was an enormous need for information on the effects of the flood on human health in the Red River Valley. Because of the increasing awareness of molds in indoor air quality, a coordinated effort by city, state and federal officials to provide information on mold prevention was undertaken. In my observations following the flood and in subsequent years of dealing with indoor mold issues, I have been impressed with the common occurrence and extensive growth of S. chartarum in homes and buildings damaged by flood waters or other types of water incursions and the lack of knowledge by the general public and public and private institutions about this fungus. This review provides information on the fungus, its biologically active compounds, the history of the problem, the controversy about this fungus, and briefly comments on detection and remediation.