Re: Mold scientist says fungi turn everything to slime

[Guest guest]

,

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but as you often say there are

always new people joining this group. So...

Fungi (mold) get their nutrition by excreting enzymes like Dr

describes. If the enzymes breakdown the material it is

sitting on the result is the " slime. " The components of which will

absorb through the cell wall of the mold. If it is something which

the mold can metabolize it uses that energy for living and

reproducing (creating spores and more hyphae). If it isn't good

food or is poisonous (to that particular mold) then it dies.

Enzymes are but one of the many parts of mold growth (but not

from non-growing spores) Dr Thrasher and others list as being

associated with health effects. Enzymes are in addition to the

spores and hyphal fragments detectable in some sampling

methods. And also why a spore-free house is not the same as a

mold free house. And why mold tests showing little or no mold

does not mean there is not a mold problem. There can be lots of

mold growth floating in its own slime growing like crazy but not

creating spores.

Testing, to tell the whole story, also needs to detect the presence

of the " slime " which hungry molds create. And that is still only part

of the problem.

" Slime " is part of what the AIHA calls " filth caused by moisture. "

The " filth " is also the mold bodies, bacteria, dust which settles on

this wet spot providing more food, insects, rodents and even the

release of chemicals from water-damaged and mold-damaged

materials.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

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I was looking through some older messages and found this one.

Interesting article because Dr. Joan used to be an expert witness

for insurance companies in mold cases.....until her house was damaged

during Hurricane Katrina and she experienced mold in her own home.

Here's her quote about " slime. "

" Fungi

have a strange way of gaining nutrition, " Dr. said. " They put

enzymes and acids into the environment, they turn everything out there

to slime, then they reabsorb it. They literally live in their food and

in their waste. "

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Joe Salowitz <josephsalowitz@...>

<groups (DOT) com>

Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2008 4:41:08 AM

Subject: [] Another Convert to our Reality

The American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases

Society of America Press Release, below.

.............. ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... .........

.......... .....

Medical News from

ICAAC-IDSA: A Joint Meeting of ASM and IDSA Meeting

ICAAC-IDSA: Fungi Geneticist Warns of Sick Building Syndrome

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- It was the smell of her Hurricane Katrina-

damaged home that transformed fungi geneticist Joan , Ph.D.,

from a sick building syndrome skeptic into a believer.

Dr. , who had spent years studying the genetics of fungi, was so

cynical about claims of sick buildings that she had even testified as an

expert witness for insurance companies, heaping scorn on homeowners'

claims about pathological mold and fungi.

But when Dr. stepped into her New Orleans home after the

hurricane-driven floodwaters had receded from the brick and plaster

structure, her dubious shell began to crack.

" The overwhelming obnoxiousness of the odor and of the enveloping air

made me start to believe in something I never had before -- sick building

syndrome, " she said at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial

Agents and Chemotherapy, held jointly with the Infectious Diseases

Society of America meeting.

Dr. 's confession came during a press conference before a

symposium on the links between human disease and molds.

Absent actual infection, such as athlete's foot, Dr. 's had thought

fungi could not cause illness, especially the seemingly disparate sick

buildings afflictions -- impotence, headaches, and hemorrhages.

Then came Katrina.

The hurricane left her home uninhabitable and many of her possessions

had to be destroyed -- victims of the way fungi " eat. "

" Fungi have a strange way of gaining nutrition, " Dr. said. " They

put enzymes and acids into the environment, they turn everything out

there to slime, then they reabsorb it. They literally live in their food and

in their waste. "

That process, she now thinks, may release volatile organic compounds

that can have an effect on human health.

" Perhaps what we're dealing with was not spores associated with fungi,

but some volatile compound, " suggested Dr. , who left Tulane

University in New Orleans after the hurricane to work at the School of

Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers.

Dr. is in the early stages of analyzing the fungi in New Orleans

homes and then testing the biological effects of fungus-generated

volatiles on worms.

In the long run, she hopes to understand -- with the help of animal

models -- how fungi might affect the health of humans.

There are more than 3,000 volatile compounds produced by each

individual fungus, making it difficult for researchers to pinpoint which

fungus produces which volatile compound and what effect it might have

on human health, said Denning, M.D., of North Manchester

General Hospital in Manchester, England.

" You've got multiple different fungi, multiple different chemicals, and

different susceptibilities and symptoms to work there, " Dr. Denning said.

" It's quite a complex area. "

Dr. Denning's own work, presented here, concerned a randomized

clinical trial in which 60 severe asthma patients were treated with the

antifungal medication itraconazole or given placebo.

He said the patients given the itraconazole had a " very significant benefit

in quality of life, " among 60% of the patients. They also relied on fewer

steroids and inhalers to manage their asthma.

The reason for the success of the treatment, he suggested, is that some

people are " hypersensitive " to fungi.

" These individuals are sensitized so we can detect an abnormal immune

response, and those fungi seem to aggravate their asthma, " he said.

Primary source: ICAAC-IDSA Meeting

Complete ICAAC-IDSA Coverage

http://www.medpaget oday.com/MeetingCoverage/ICAAC-IDSA/11529

[Guest guest]

Since the original post was made by me, I googled Dr. , to see what she

was up to, these days. She (see below) is at Rutgers University in New Jersey,

researching mold. I find it disturbing that, in her University listing, she does

not " come out of the closet " as a mold sufferer, herself. Why are respected

people, in the research profession, afraid to say that their " motivation " is

suffering that they have experienced, themselves?

..............................................

Dr. Joan Contact Information

Mailing Address

Rutgers University

Department of Plant Biology & Pathology

Foran Hall/ Cook Campus

59 Dudley Rd.

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

profmycogirl@...

Campus Location

Office: Room 296C Foran Hall, 732-932-9711 x386

Lab: Room 297 Foran Hall, 732-932-9711 x291

Research Interests

The lab studies molds, in particular the genetics of mycotoxin

production in the genus Aspergillus. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites

produced by filamentous fungi that are capable of causing disease and death in

humans and other animals. Because of their pharmacological activity, some

mycotoxins or mycotoxin derivatives have found use as antibiotics, growth

promotants, and other kinds of pharmaceuticals. In collaboration with scientists

at the Southern Regional Research Laboratory, a branch of the U. S. Department

of Agriculture in New Orleans, Louisiana, the laboratory has pioneered

research on the genetics and biosynthesis of aflatoxin. This research has

provided a useful model for other polyketide secondary metabolites and opens the

possibilities for reducing these poisons in foods and the environment. Dr.

also has been involved in genome projects for Aspergillus flavus, A.

fumigatus and A. oryzae. In the aftermath of flooding associated with Hurricane

Katrina, and the widespread mold infestations that followed in the American Gulf

South, the laboratory is initiating new studies on potential health

problems associated with " indoor " molds.

In addition to running a laboratory, Dr. is Associate Vice President for

Academic Affairs, charged with promoting the welfare of women in science,

engineering, mathematics and the health professions at Rutgers University.

http://www.cook.rutgers.edu/~plantbiopath/faculty/bennett/bennett.html

.............................................................

>

> I was looking through some older messages and found this one. Interesting

article because Dr. Joan