I am doing a paper on generic black mold and how it impacts health, long term and short term.
I assume that you are referring to Stachybotrys chartarum.. Stachy is sticky, so to speak, and so altho it elaborates mycotoxins it does not get into the air in substantial concentrations and therefore has much less of an impact on health than has often been alleged. It has been a number of years since I looked at the literature carefully but I remember well that it was full of misleading papers and allegations of health risk that were not supported by the evidence. So please, as you go forward, be cautious and maintain your skepticism of what you read.
Thanks Lee. I am writing a paper about mold exposure and mycotoxicity issues. There are two studies done by Brewer et al in 2013; Chronic Illness Associated with Mold and Mycotoxins: Is Naso-Sinus Fungal Biofilm the Culprit? and Detection of Mycotoxins in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Do you know whether these are part of those studies you mentioned? Or can you give me a date at which you stopped researching this topic? There are a lot of newer studies that have been done in the last 2 years that point to mycotoxins being suspect in disease states. It seems at least with OTA there is a large body of evidence that it is certainly toxic to humans and Trichothecens have been weaponized to do harm. In my own experience, one currently happening and 2 other long term separate exposures over the years, with a bunch of idiopathic illnesses over a 20 year period, cause me not to doubt so much. The dreaded bias. So I would like to know a little more of your experience. I appreciate for your warning and the year you stopped researching this...
Tee, not Lee. Nobody doubts their role in allergy, infection, and extreme situations (such as the mycotoxicity cases arising during famine, wartime, and in the MIddle Age). There is a difference between the potential for mycotoxins, which are clearly highly intrinsically toxic, to cause harm and the plausibility of these agents as a mechanism of disease under "normal" circumstances in indoor air. This is a topic for which there is a great deal of advocacy beyond the science. Happy to talk to you off-line about this.
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