Killing Mold

A mycotoxin is a toxic chemical produced by mode fungus, including mushrooms, molds, and yeasts. The term ‘mycotoxin’ is usually reserved for the relatively small amount of toxic chemical products formed as secondary metabolites by fungi that readily colonize crops in the field or after harvest. Most fungi use oxygen and are found almost everywhere in extremely small quantities due to the minute size of their spores. They consume organic matter wherever humidity and temperature are sufficient. One mold species may produce many different mycotoxins and/or the same mycotoxin as another species.

Where conditions are right, fungi proliferate into colonies and mycotoxin levels become high. The reason for the production of mycotoxins is most likely to be part of the molds defense mechanism and is dependent on the surrounding environment. The toxins vary greatly in their toxicity, depending on the organism infected and its susceptibility, metabolism, and defense mechanisms. Some of the health effects found in animals and humans include death, identifiable diseases or health problems, weakened immune systems without specificity to a toxin, and as allergens or irritants. Some mycotoxins are harmful to other micro-organisms such as other fungi or even bacteria; penicillin is one example.

Mycotoxins can appear in the food chain as a result of fungal infection of crops, either by being eaten directly by humans, or by being used as livestock feed. Mycotoxins resist decomposition or being broken down in digestion, so they remain in the food chain in meat and dairy products. Even temperature treatments, such as cooking and freezing, do not destroy most mycotoxins.

Although various wild mushrooms contain an assortment of poisons that are definitely fungal metabolites causing noteworthy health problems for humans, they are rather arbitrarily excluded from discussions of mycotoxicology. In such cases the distinction is based on the size of the producing fungus and human intention. Mycotoxin exposure is almost always accidental, however, improper identification and ingestion of toxic mushrooms will cause mushroom poisoning. Ingestion of misidentified mushrooms containing mycotoxins may result in hallucinations. The cyclopeptide-produced Amanita phalloide is well known for its toxic potential and is responsible for approximately 90% of all mushroom fatalities. The other primary mycotoxin groups found in mushrooms include: orellanine, monomethylhydrazine, disulfiram-like, hallucinogenic indoles, muscarinic, isoxazole, and gastrointestinal specific irritants.

Even after careful and through mold remediation that removes the fungus and spores, the Mycotoxins remain and should be dealt with separately. Most of the time, wiping a formerly mold infested area with water, detergent and ammonia does the job of Mycotoxins though not always.

In 1976 I was working in northern New Jersey and living in a tiny house with lots of steps in Ringwood NJ.  For several years my wife and I had been looking for a house that we could afford, but even in 1976 houses in New Jersey were nearly twice the price of the houses we had looked at in the Midwest.

As luck would have it, we did find a 1000 sqft house with no steps in an old lake side community on Greenwood Lake. It was  just 3 mile from the New York state border and 20 miles from where I was working for an incredible $40000.

There were a few warning signs like the inch deep pile of real estate agents cards laying on the kitchen counter and the musty smell throughout the house.

It turns out that the owners had been transferred out of state and had hired a couple of the local teens to clean out the house, paint the walls and ceiling and arrange for the carpet to be cleaned to prepare the house for sale. The clean out was through, the paint job was OK, the carpet cleaning was done professional but the carpet was left wet and the house closed up.

There were wet moldy ashes in the fire place that smelled pretty bad, but the real problem was the partially completed cellar where there was an indoor/outdoor carpet on the floor. It was still wet from the sump pit overflowing into the cellar because the old style sump pump has fallen over and obstructed the motion of the float ball that controlled the power to the pump.  The mold smell was overwhelming! Why the listing agent had not removed the carpet is still a mystery.

I offered $35000 and it was accepted.  The first thing I did was cut up the remove the wet carpet in the cellar.

A few months later I finally got around to cleaning up the cellar. Mostly throwing out a few boxes of junk and sweeping up. Probably 2 hours work.  By that evening I was feeling pretty bad and by 9 PM I was sporting a 105 degree fever including uncontrollable chills, sweating, shaking, and mussel cramps. Aspirin did nothing to help the situation at all.  However, by midnight the fever broke and I was able to sleep.

The next day I was so worn out I couldn’t go to work so I stayed in bed most of the day resting and preparing for the work the next day.

Two months later, I finally got around to finishing the cleanup in the cellar and that evening the very same situation occurred again! Being a pretty quick study I connected the activity in the cellar with the fever and took corrective action. (Spending a minimal amount of time in the cellar.)

Sometime later I mentioned the 2 episodes to my doctor during a normal check up and he told me that I had a mold allergy. Now I was one of those people who was not allergic to anything up until then and I was not at all happy with the thought.  The Doctor say that I probably had what he called a step function mold allergy which means that nothing happens until I exceed some level of exposure at which point I will get a sever reaction in a few hours for a few hours… Pretty heady stuff for a doctor to be handing out without a perspiration for some drug.

Turns out the doctor  was quite right and the step seemed to be at 30 minutes in a moldy smelling area. Armed with the the third event I have had only one additional mold reaction that I should have predicted! Now I use a respirator anytime I am in a moldy house.