While a single incident of inhaling mold can cause acute ill health, long-term mold exposure carries special risks. Continuing stress on the body especially impacts people with mold allergies, respiratory diseases and immune system suppression.
Flood victims and people who work in places with high fungal levels face permanent health effects from poor air quality. Even everyday contact with household molds can create chronic breathing problems if mold growth persists and if patients forego treatment for their symptoms.
Identification
So-called black mold refers to the strain of fungus Stachybotrys chartarum, but many molds, including Alternaria, appear black. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, or CDC, patients who experience symptoms from mold exposure do not need to identify the strain. All molds carry risks for the same health effects.
Effects
Black mold generates nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis in some people, which may recur over a lifetime. As the CDC relates, asthma symptoms of coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath can occur in people with fungal allergies who also have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These individuals, along with cancer, HIV and recent surgical patients, are vulnerable to mold infections of the lungs, called aspergillosis. Long-term effects of daily exposure include the lung disease hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The Merck Medical Library notes that, over time, this disease degrades lung tissue and function.
Misconceptions
Although black molds produce mycotoxins, which can affect some mold hosts, these substances have not been proven to affect humans. The CDC reports that suspected health effects such as bleeding lungs have not been linked with S. chartarum. Long-term contact with any molds, however, can cause organ failure if fungal infections spread throughout the body.
Time Frame
The chronic threat of sudden asthma attacks persists as long as black mold exposure, the CDC notes. Ongoing inhalation of mold spores also carries the continual risk for fungal infection of the sinuses and lungs.
Forms of hypersensitivity pneumonitis develop with long-term, high-level mold exposure, such as that experienced in some occupational settings. The Merck Medical Library reports that this inflammation of the lungs may take days or weeks of exposure to arise, following initial allergic health effects. Mold contact that continues for months or years may result in chronic, irreversible pneumonitis.
Prevention
Because individuals may be sensitive to more than one type of mold, the CDC advises that patients consider all indoor molds potentially dangerous and target them for removal. Nonporous surfaces can be cleaned, but infested rugs and cellulose building materials should be removed.
Once contracted, allergies, asthma and other respiratory conditions can't be reversed, but symptoms can be prevented with medication. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis can be arrested if air quality improves before lung decline progresses, notes the Merck Medical Library.
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