green mould

[Lloydy b]

Hi to all,

i just wanted to ask if all moulds/fungus's etc have the same ingredient in them as part of their make up as a species.

I have a green mould in my out house which i posted about a few weeks ago.I'm sure that i'm reacting to it (i get a swelling type symptom when i'm in the room and down that part of my garden),but i recently got an allergy test done which included moulds and it came back negetive but i'm concerned that only a couple of species were tested on my skin.I am interested to see if the main body of all moulds are the same.?

I might not have an allergy to it but i suppose it could affect people in different ways if breathed in.

Many thanks
Lloyd

[Hedge Witch]

If I remember your post correctly, I think it was an algae that was most likely the correct ID? But I'm not sure.

If this is the case, yes, it's allergenic/sensitizing nature would be completely different to that of a mould.

And even just one chemical can be the difference between a reaction and not. Think about the number of people who have an allergy to penicillin. So I'm fairly sure that your test could be negative but you could still have an allergy/sensitivity to a compound made by that organism, if it was a different one to that used to prepare the test substance.

Hope this makes sense.

[Lloydy b]

Thanks Hedge Witch,

what your saying makes sense,not too sure whether its an algea or mould but i understand the science behind your idea.
It is an inbetween dark and light green fuzzy/furry type compound and sometimes white on the surface.,powdery when touched or brushed away from the surface.
I'm thinking of buying myself an Airfree air purifier which has good reviews and has the ability to totaly rid the air of any threatening pollutants but it costs £140 but before i get one i just wanted to make sure i looked into the facts about the nature of these organisms and its a lot of cash to pay out if it doesn't work but i don't see what else i can do.

I'll persevere with it though

many thanks Lloyd

[Lloydy b]

i have put up a picture of the green stuff but can't seem to view it its number is -0013 if thats any help

[Chris Yeates]

hi Lloyd

if you (or someone else) could scrape some into a small paper packet (not polythene or the like), I can have a look at it

PM me if you're interested . . .

Chris

[Lloydy b]

Hi Chris ,

thanks for your reply and it is really kind of you to offer your time.It would be a great help if i could take you up on that,i'll send you a message.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Lloydy b

Hi Chris ,

thanks for your reply and it is really kind of you to offer your time.It would be a great help if i could take you up on that,i'll send you a message.

hi LLoydy

the material arrived safely and I have had a preliminary look at it; what I can see is the imperfect spores ('conidia') of a fungus; most of these are very small - about three thousandths of a millimetre (!) and circular, though some are more elongate; without trying to get too technical it belongs to an artificial grouping of often unrelated fungi called 'Hyphomycetes' these are mostly the non-sexual stage of Ascomycetes (you can look all this stuff up on Wikipedia for further info); although I have not yet been able to make out the fungal threads on which the 'spores' have been found, looking at just the spores, the species which I think fits very closely is something called Cladosporium sphaerosporum, a very common aerial fungus - and indeed almost certainly present in the rooms of everyone reading this post () though not, one hopes in serious quantities

I then Googled Cladosporium sphaerosporum and you are presented with a barrage of medical alarm bells; while many of these may well be hidden adverts for cures of various levels of efficacy, clearly this is a fungus which can cause allergic reactions

I have to stress that my identification cannot be taken as a 100% ID (for that it would need to be cultured in a lab - and quite honestly even if I had the culture media, I would not do this at home - for obvious reasons); nevertheless what I can see does look very like that fungus, and if you went to see a specialist I would mention that there is a possibility of this particular species if they can test for it; I have carefully wrapped your material away and if I need to look at it again I shall wear a FFP3 standard face mask (seriously): I developed asthma last year having never had any problems before so I take no chances

I will get back if I can comment further; I hope that has been of use to you

best wishes

Chris

[Lloydy b]

Hi Chris ,

thanks for taking a look at the fungus for me and i have to appologise for sending you something so dangerous in the post,blimey suprising how harmful it can be ay?
Its strange how there is such a high concentration of the stuff in this particular area of my garden but there was a large compost heap on the other side of my fence and i'm sure thats where it all came from originally.

I checked on the species and it is part of the five that i was allergy tested for and it came back negitive but as i'm aware there are other health risks associated with the stuff and i'm sure that this is where my problem stems from,being exposed to many airbourne spores and not knowing that they are there all being invisible and all.

Thanks again for your time,
best wishes
Lloyd

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Lloydy b

Its strange how there is such a high concentration of the stuff in this particular area of my garden but there was a large compost heap on the other side of my fence and i'm sure thats where it all came from originally.
Lloyd

hi Lloydy

I really wouldn't blame your compost heap - as I said these fungal spores are everywhere - just think how a cut lemon in the fridge wrapped in clingfilm will still get mouldy . . . ditto damp patches of wallpaper in unheated rooms, and there are fungi which will colonise newly plastered walls and then disappear as they dry out and you would never know they were ever there; a friend of mine asked me what it was growing on a piece of carpet in the boot of her car and it was the discomycete Peziza cerea (and these are all different species)

they key thing is that the conditions in your outhouse are perfect for this particular fungus and the spores have been able to germinate and the fungus is flourishing - if you can keep the outhouse dry and with decent airflow through that might clear the problem - clearly warmer weather will help as the year develops

happy to have been of help

Chris