Reactions to Black Mold Exposure

Stachybotrys chartarum, or black mold, is a green-black fungus that can contaminate homes and cause allergic reactions and various health conditions. It is a toxingenic mold that grows in warm, moist environments on materials such as fiberboard, drywall, sheet rock, paper, lint and dust. These materials readily absorb water from flooding, condensation, high humidity and plumbing leaks in the home. Black mold can also grow in closets, carpeting, shower tile grout, dryer vents; air and heat ventilation systems, and refrigerators.

Black Mold Spores

• Black mold reproduces by sending spores out into the air. These spores have filament-like clusters on their surfaces which allow them to anchor onto organic matter that they feed off of and grow on. Inhaling these black mold spores causes allergic reactions in many people.

Common Reactions

• Some of the most common reactions caused by black mold include hey fever-like allergy symptoms such as a runny nose, excessive mucus, watery and itchy eyes, an itchy throat, itchy skin, skin rashes, hives and sinus headaches. Exposure to black mold can also cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis, which is an inflammation of lung alveoli. This lung disease results in a reduction in your lungs' air capacity, and causes shortness of breath, dry cough, chills, fever, malaise or feeling sick, and unintended weight loss due to loss of appetite. It can also cause chronic inflammation of the sinuses and sinus infections.

Severe Reactions

• Certain people can develop severe reactions when exposed to black mold. These reactions include dizziness, shortness of breath, fever, short-term memory loss and migraines.

Overexposure

• Some people are very sensitive to black mold, and may have reactions that a medical practitioner might not associate with toxic black mold poisoning. These reactions include immune system suppression, chronic fatigue, central nervous system problems such as memory loss and mood changes, coughing up blood, nose bleeds, flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, anemia and pulmonary hemorrhaging. In very rare cases, these reactions can lead to health complications that can be fatal.

Opportunistic Infections

• People who are immunocompromised due to an autoimmune disease, those with chronic lung diseases, the elderly, infants and young children are at a higher risk of developing fungal infections in their lungs due to exposure to black mold because their immune systems are not strong enough to fight off the infection.