The 7 Health Effects of Mold

or, No Such Thing as Benevolent Mold

The 7 Health Effects of Mold 
(was, “The 7 Mold Hazards”)

Rev. Jan 2021

When is the mold industry at-large going to realize the ENTIRE creature called mold has hazards?

Aspergillus conidiaphore, where spores are grown and dispersed. Each single ball is a spore, aka conidia. The conidiaphore produces hundreds of spores; the immature spores can be seen on each thin stalk of the conidiaphore. The Aspergillus spores are considered small among all mold spores; they are about 2-3 microns diameter each, But this is still considered large for purpose of filtration and are easily trapped by a HEPA filter. Some molds produce spores as large as 10 or more microns in diameter. About 30 of these Aspergillus spores lined up in a row would be the width of a hair! Image taken with scanning electron microscope and colored for effect.

I REALLY am tired of the language so often mischaracterizing mold growth and mold contamination as simply “spores”. Who hasn’t heard the oft-repeated, “Look at all the spores on the wall!” When was the last time you, or anyone, actually saw spores? Right, you didn’t.

Last I counted, mold has SEVEN categories of health impacts or effects.

Since we are concerned with protecting people from exposure, rather than diagnosing or treating disease, we should focus on the different pieces and parts of mold that cause illness and how we find and remove them from the exposure pathway.

So what about these other pieces and parts beside the spores?

If you include the part about some species being opportunistic pathogens, i.e., cause infections, there are seven categories of pieces and parts that constitute a hazard. But perhaps surprisingly, infection (hazard effect #7, in the list below) is not a risk associated with water damaged buildings or growth on building surfaces - it’s in a special category of its own. 

The obvious mold growth hazard is allergens (#1 in the list); allergens are not just on spores. The myriad of proteins that make up allergens, aka antigens, are likely to be on the filaments (aka hyphae) and reproductive structures as well as on spores.

The other “obvious” and much talked about hazard is mycotoxins (#2 on the list); which are found on the filaments (aka hyphae), sometimes on some spores, and on the substrate surfaces under and next to the actual mold growth. Mycotoxins are not VOC’s; they do not act like gases. These filaments can be broken and dispersed, but the mycotoxins remain with them. The mycotoxins do not appear alone as a solitary molecule. They are found attached to these other mold pieces, all of which are relatively large particulates easily removed with good wiping, good washing with detergents, or good vacuuming.

Then, there are the cell wall constituents (#3), such as beta glucans, hemolysins, proteinases, and mannans, that cause numerous diseases. Some are not proven and remain suspect, some are very much likely, and a few are well researched and worthy of being a likely mold illness.

I wish we discussed and worried more about the VOC’s (#4 on the list), known as mVOC’s (microbial VOC’s). As mold grows it metabolizes its dinner, which it’s sitting upon, and exhausts the waste as VOCs. (An old wise-man once said, don’t poop where you eat!) These mold waste compounds are volatile - they float away! mVOCs include a wide range of alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, carboxylic acids, lactones, terpenes, sulfur and nitrogen compounds, and aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons.

And of course, the good old-fashioned irritation effects (#5) must not be forgotten; an always-present impact not considered or measured or reported. Caused by particulates made of fragments and spores as well as some of the mVOC’s. The irritation can be the solid particulate, in the respiratory passages of the nose, sinus, and throat and lungs. It can be the mold chemical irritation to mucous membranes and skin.

Hazard #7 is the carcinogenic properties; this risk may only be from a few toxins and is not really connected to “typical” mold exposure in water damaged buildings, nor to anywhere in fact. It just is. While the toxins are understood from a laboratory and bio-chemical point of view, little is known about the actual exposures needed to cause cancer.

To summarize, there are seven health hazards from mold growing in a building.

These are general categories – the seven health effects are not the symptoms. There are many more symptoms than effects. Each "effect" has a different pathway, a different physiological impact, and different symptoms:

1. Allergenic. Rapid onset, acute reactions, many symptoms; respiratory, eye, and skin reactions are most common. Usually rapid recovery upon removal from exposure.

2. Mycotoxigenic, from mycotoxins. There are estimates of just over 300 to more than 2000; the actual nomenclature varies. Symptoms can be inflammation, and possibly some of the symptoms with no known cause . The “disease” many call “CIRS” is not formally a disease but is a GROUP of symptoms that cannot be explained! They have NO KNOWN CAUSE - they are “idiopathic”. The doctors (aka “practitioners, because many are NOT actual docs - they are ‘naturopaths’ or nutritionists or health coaches) that supposedly “diagnose” will tell you - IF they are fully transparent and truthful - that the name CIRS is not a single disease.
   
   I will use CIRS here in the transparent non-definitive sense that “many symptoms that are unexplained, have no known cause, are difficult to diagnose, are difficult to treat, might be called “CIRS” by some practitioners”
   
   If you want to be overwhelmed, here is a list of over one thousand two hundred (1200+) secondary metabolites, with about 300-350 of them called mycotoxins; sometimes they are called exolites, https://www.aspergillus.org.uk/metabolites-archive/?wpv_view_count=62386&wpv_post_search=&wpv_paged=14).

   Please note that mycotoxins are NOT “VOC”s.

3. Cell Wall constituent effect. Includes molecules like mannans, glucans, etc. Possibly inflammation, possibly CIRS. Are very different molecules than mycotoxins.

4. VOC effect. Volatile Organic Compounds; sometimes known as mVOC for microbial VOC. Often Central Nervous System (CNS) effects. There are over 1000 documented mVOC’s created by fungi and bacteria. See the great academic website and database here, http://bioinformatics.charite.de/mvoc/. VOC’s are volatile which means individual molecules easily “evaporate” from materials at room temperature; can be from products like plastics, paints and cleaning products. Technically, VOC’s have a high vapor pressure. VOC’s behave like a gas, such as oxygen or hydrogen, in the air.

   Please note that mycotoxins are NOT “VOC”s.

5. Irritation, can be either chemical or physical irritation. Physical is like sand in a bathing suit. Chemical is like a mild skin burn or itch from a lotion or detergent, prolonged repeated exposure to some irritant chemicals can lead to serious conditions like dermatitis.

6. Pathogenic, the mold grows in or on you; it is an infection from a “pathogen” like some of the Aspergillus and Fusarium species, or some of the yeasts. Infection is not “found” nor diagnosed by the medical tests used for diagnosing allergy or CIRS. (Fungal Infections, such as Aspergillosis, are not the result of being in a water damaged building. Infection is the result of a predisposed compromised immune system). Not caused by being in a water damaged building. Any connection between infection and water damage is merely coincidental. For more medical and infection information, see the great website resource, Aspergillosis and Other Infections

7. Carcinogenic. (rare, and likely requires extremely large ongoing exposures). Not caused by being in a water damaged building.

And, one more thing to think about:

We might have to consider the moldy, musty, mildew, rotten, wet, odors! 

Could odor be hazard category #8?

Maybe, maybe not.

Odors, also called fragrances when we like them, are VOC’s. Nearly all odors are VOC’s. Not all VOC’s have odor. They are sensed by the olfactory nerves in the nose. It is known and accepted that odors of all kind, good and bad, will trigger memories and emotions. This is one reason for continued success of the perfume and fragrance industry – oils, sprays, candles, waxes and much more. “If it smells good, people feel good!”

VOC’s in general, with or without odor, physically impact the body directly, by chemically impacting systems like the Central Nervous System (CNS), or organs like the liver. There are many VOC’s that are health hazards.

Via the olfactory nerve signaling process, odors appear to trigger CNS and physical reactions, but by a completely different pathway than the run-of-the-mill VOC. See the recent study of lavender fragrance (a VOC) as an anxiolytic (Nov 2018); its effects working only when sensed by the olfactory system, not when ingested or injected into the blood stream, or inhaled into the lung! Really interesting. 

This motivates me to ask, “what does mold fragrance do?”

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Thank You and I Sincerely Hope You Get Well Soon…