stachybotrys - spore testing of air fails to show it - new paper shows one reason why

[Guest guest]

I just found this..

My reading of this is that after the initial first sporulation in

which 1% of the sores fly off, the remaining 99% of the spores just

stay on the surface of the mold colony.. remaining toxic for a long

time, until they completely dry out and get pulverized into

(microscopically) unrecognizable but toxic dust, with the strong

potential of making people very ill..

Fungal Genet Biol. 2007 Jul;44(7):641-7. Epub 2006 Dec 24.

Biomechanics of conidial dispersal in the toxic mold Stachybotrys chartarum.

Tucker K, Stolze JL, Kennedy AH, Money NP.

Department of Botany, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA.

Conidial dispersal in Stachybotrys chartarum in response to

low-velocity airflow was studied using a microflow apparatus. The

maximum rate of spore release occurred during the first 5 min of

airflow, followed by a dramatic reduction in dispersal that left more

than 99% of the conidia attached to their conidiophores.

Micromanipulation of undisturbed colonies showed that micronewton

(microN) forces were needed to dislodge spore clusters from their

supporting conidiophores. Calculations show that airspeeds that

normally prevail in the indoor environment disturb colonies with

forces that are 1000-fold lower, in the nanonewton (nN) range.

Low-velocity airflow does not, therefore, cause sufficient disturbance

to disperse a large proportion of the conidia of S. chartarum.

PMID: 17267247 [PubMed - in process]