White Mold

[Guest guest]

A friend tells me that a white mold has been growing all over his stuff. It

looks sort of streaky white. Someone (I think maybe at a dry cleaner's)

identified it as white penicillium.

It especially likes leather, polyester, wool and unfinished hard wood (like an

old desk from the 1920s that the finish has worn off of). It does not seem to

like cotton, rayon, plastic, paper or finished wood.

Keeping dehumidifiers at 40% has not stopped it from growing. Microban, a

disinfectant, does not stop it. Odoban, another disinfectant, seems to help.

It grows very fast and spreads over the surface of everything.

There's a khaki colored mold that he's found occasionally in conjunction with

it.

This does not seem to be a mold that grows in walls. It grows on the surface of

objects. The first time he saw the mold was when he was moving into a new

apartment and found it on some of his suits (which were in storage bags). He

got rid of the suits right away, but it then quickly started appearing on all

kinds of other things in the apartment (including brand new things).

He is having respiratory issues that he attributes to the mold. He's not sure

if cognitive and emotional symptoms are due to the mold or just random. (He

doesn't have CFS or anything similar, but thinks he's sensitive to toxic mold.)

He's going to send a sample to Mouldworks to see for sure what it is.

I'd like to know if anyone here has run into this mold before though.

If so, did it cause a toxic type reaction?

Thanks much for your help.

Best,