"Fungi" includes a diverse group of organisms such as mushrooms, mildews, bread molds, yeasts and soil fungi. Fungi may be either unicellular organisms such as yeasts or multicellular organisms such as filamentous molds.
All fungi are eukaryotic which means that they do have a true nucleus unlike prokaryotic micro-organisms such as bacteria which have no true nucleus. Most fungi degrade non-living organic matter. "Mold" is the common name applied to filamentous fungi.
Fungal spores are common throughout the indoor and outdoor environments in varying concentrations. But unlike common gaseous compounds such as carbon dioxide and oxygen that have fairly stable ambient levels, the amount of fungi in the air is constantly changing. This has prevented the establishment of meaningful baselines for use in comparative studies and evaluations.
The detection of fungal spores is not unusual indoors, the overriding issue with repect to fungi is the presence of active colony growth- otherwise referred to as amplification.
Mold growths can often be seen in the form of discoloration, ranging from white to orange and from green to brown and black.
Allergic people vary in their sensitivity to mold, either to the amount or type of mold required to produce a reaction. In addition certain types of molds can produce toxins called mycotoxins that the mold uses to inhibit or prevent the growth of other organisms. Mycotoxins can be found in living and dead mold spores. Allergic and toxic effects can remain in dead spores and exposure to mycotoxins may present a greater hazard than that of allergenic or irratative molds.
|
