THE DANGER OF MOLD

If you fear black-colored molds, that's good.  While not all of them are toxic, many are, especially Stachbotrys chartarum.

• Needs moisture, organic material and oxygen to grow.

• 
  All molds spread through spores that float, like in a ventilation system.
• The spores themselves are not dangerous, but the mycotoxins they carry are.
• The mycotoxins, toxic trichothecenes, are produced by molds.  
• Only a third of black molds form toxic compounds.
• People with a weakened immune system or of older age are especially vulnerable.

• 
  For details, go to a World Health Organization publication--WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality:  Dampness and Mould (this is how they spell mold in Europe).
• Microbial pollution can be caused by hundreds of bacteria and fungi, in particular filamentous fungi (mold).
• Mold is associated with building moisture and biological agents.
• Causes respiratory symptoms, exacerbates allergies and asthma and perturbs the immunological system.

10 warning signs of mold toxicity:

1. Allergic reaction like congestion, coughing, skin rashes and wheezing.  I'll add another one, sneezing.
2. Getting fatigued and persistent feelings of lethargy.
3. Causes respiratory problems.
4. Chronic sinus issues.
5. Skin problems like eczema, redness, itches, rashes and dermatitis.
6. Digestive problems, from acid reflux to other gastrointestinal symptoms.
7. Muscle and joint problems.
8. Cognitive problems.
9. Depression and anxiety.
10. Headaches and migraines.

Holy Moly, the above describes me, except for #10.  Here is my recent experience, where mold had infested the floor under my bathtub.  I asked to have them removed.  I now have no bathtub and will hopefully over time rid my bathroom of any mold.

Contractor measuring mold presence the next day.

Now that the primary mold problem has been handled, what else? 

• Make sure that your entire living area is mold clear.  15 Craigside contracted out to examine this matter, and the conclusion was that I could continue to live in my apartment. 
• How to get rid of mold in your body.

• 
  Activated charcoal.
• Absorbs toxins from your system.
• Take a capsule form to absorb toxins
• I'll check with my doctor.

• 
  Raw garlic.  
• This is somewhat controversial, for while some sources advocate this vegetable, Google AI Overview has responses dissuading you, depending on how you ask. 
• Its antifungal properties can help fight off mold-related infections.  
• There are also garlic capsules.
• I'll check with my doctor.
• 
  Tea Tree Oil.  Use this to clean surfaces where mold tends to grow.  Note:  don't consume this product.  Tea tree is Australian Melaleuca Alternifolia tree.

• 
  Glutathione, a powerful antioxident that enhances liver detoxification.  A pill.  I'll also ask my doctor.  This magical antioxidant is glutathione – “the mother of all antioxidants” – and it is the most powerful antioxidant in your body.

• 
  Pulsatilla and Silicea can be used to alleviate symptoms of mold allergies like sinus congestion and skin irritations.  This is a homeopathic remedy, and I usually avoid this pathway. sticking instead to traditional medical practices.

By the way, there are good molds.

• There is that legendary story of Scottish physician Alexander Fleming.
• Returning from a holiday in 1928, this London Professor of Bacteriology at St. Mary's Hospital began sorting through petri dishes containing colonies of Staphylococcus, a bacteria that causes boils, sore throats, etc.
• But he noticed something unusual on one dish.
• It was dotted with colonies, as would be expected, except for one area, where a blog of mold was growing.
• The zone immediately around the mold was a rare strain of what his staff thought was Penicillium notatum.  
• Turns out that they were wrong, in that this was Penicillium rubens, so even if he identified the wrong mold, this was actually rubens. (This reassment was made in 2011.)
• He named this mold penicillin.

One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.

— Alexander Fleming^[26]

• 
  But it was not until more than a decade later that Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford University turned this laboratory curiosity into a life-saving drug.
• Penicillin is estimated to having been responsible for saving over 500 million lives!
• The success of penicillin has been described as the single greatest victory ever achieved over diseases.
• Fleming was knighted in 1944.

• 
  He, Florey and Chain won the Nobel Prize in 1945.
• There is more:
• By 1949, the annual production of penicillin in the United States was 133,229 billion units, and the price had dropped from twenty dollars per 100,000 units in 1943 to less than ten cents. Most British companies moved over to the deep tank fermentation production of penicillin, pioneered in the United States, after the end of the war to meet civilian needs. In the United Kingdom, penicillin first went on sale to the general public, as a prescription only drug, on June 1, 1946.
• 
  Also cures:
• Respiratory infections: Strep throat, pneumonia, bronchitis
• Skin and soft tissue infections: Cellulitis, impetigo, abscesses
• Ear, nose, and throat infections: Otitis media (ear infections), sinusitis
• Urinary tract infections: Cystitis, pyelonephritis
• Meningitis: Inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord
• Early Syphilis can be stopped with one injection of penicillin, but Gonorrhea is now resistant.

• 
  Another family of good molds is one that that is used for popular cheeses:  blue mold for Roquefort cheese and white mold for Camembert.  
• And, by the way, they are called Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium camberti.
• In case you were wondering, blue cheese can go bad if not stored properly.  Wrapped and refrigerated, can keep for up to a month, or indefinitely if frozen.  If in doubt, throw the cheese away.

• 
  The white mold on Brie cheese crust is Penicillium candidum.
• Also useful for soy sauce production.  koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus sojae) ferments soybeans and wheat.  This yellow mold also is used for the making of sake.

Thus, while mold was removed from my bathroom, leading to better sleep and a healthier body, over the past couple days I have enjoyed Castello Blue Cheese from Denmark, Kubota Sake from Japan and Kikkoman Soy Sauce from Japan.  Mind you, soy sauce has a lot of sodium, so I need to be careful about this product.

-