Article by Joshua Kent
Moisture Master Pros OwnerThe ecosystem of molds exists all around us – from the air we breathe to the surfaces we touch, the food we eat, etc. In most instances, mold is a type of fungus that is innocuous or even beneficial to health. However, specific types of mold, including toxic black mold, can be dangerous. These molds exploit growth opportunities and reproduce at the expense of our health or the pristine condition of our belongings.
They can invade growth-conducive spots around your home, where they may cause health problems when inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through skin pores. Continued exposure to high levels of mold spores may cause mild to severe symptoms, particularly in people with weakened immune systems or those sensitive to mold.
Stachybotrys chartarum (S. chartarum), or Stachybotrys atra, commonly referred to as “black mold,” is associated with myriad health problems ranging from mild symptoms to serious and even terminal effects. The presence of black mold in your house is a constant threat – even the slightest exposure can irritate people with mold allergies or frail health.
However, you can protect yourself and your loved ones from these problems by learning about the causes of black mold growth and identifying black mold symptoms. In this guide, we’ll equip you with all you need to know to remove black mold and keep mold spores from growing in your surroundings.

How Do You Know if Mold is Making You Sick?
Our biosphere is immersed in an ocean of microbes – invisible microorganisms that float around the air and latch onto surfaces, including mold. Studies show that most species of mold are harmless or even beneficial – like those that give us cheese, vinegar, etc.
However, some harmful variants, commonly known as “black mold,” may cause serious health issues. These molds colonize dark, warm, moist spots around the house, creating the perfect environment for mold to grow. If the colony grows to a critical mass, the air around those areas can become heavily saturated with black mold spores, increasing the risk of inhalation.
People who are sensitive to mold spores, especially those with allergies or weakened immune systems, are more susceptible to severe reactions. This includes individuals with pre-existing respiratory problems, chronic conditions, or aging-related health issues.
A 2012 study shows that the risks of developing asthma increase in infants and young children with mold exposure. Research also shows that damp indoor spaces – typical breeding grounds for harmful molds – can cause or worsen respiratory problems like asthma.
People with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV, transplant patients, and chemo patients, face even greater risks, including fungal infections caused by mold exposure. Even healthy individuals are not immune to the risks. Prolonged exposure to black mold spores or moldy surfaces can cause symptoms like mycotoxicosis or other serious health issues.
The list of health problems goes on.
In general, you can suspect exposure to mold as the main culprit if you or any of your loved ones experience symptoms like:
- Allergy symptoms
- Allergic reaction
- Headaches
- Runny or blocked nose
- Watery, red eyes
- Coughing (especially dry coughing)
- Asthma attacks
- Skin rashes
- Sore throat
- Sinusitis
- Wheezing
Can Black Mold Kill You?
Black mold, known in the scientific world as Stachybotrys chartarum, is a toxic mold with a characteristic dark green or black color. It is often found in warm, humid, or damp spaces.
It usually sprawls over moist surfaces of materials with organic compounds that it feeds on, from carpets to subfloor boarding, drywall, and more. These surfaces often become damp and conducive to mold growth due to leakages around the home, which provide the ideal environment for black mold to form.
Black mold is notorious for damaging furniture, fittings, and structures around the home. It can also pose serious health risks when black mold spores enter the body.
Although there are no reports suggesting that black mold can be lethal to healthy individuals, research shows it may cause significant health problems, particularly in vulnerable groups. Black mold can irritate the respiratory system and may cause allergy symptoms or trigger asthma attacks in sensitive individuals.
Black mold might not kill you, but it can make you sick. Its presence is, therefore, a constant threat in your home.
It’s especially dangerous to people with frail health, including:
- Very young children
- Very old people
- People with preexisting lung conditions
- People with allergies
The presence of black mold can make life miserable for these groups, as they may experience common symptoms like stuffy heads, headaches, itchy eyes, and skin irritation. In severe cases, black mold exposure may even lead to pneumonia in those with respiratory problems, which can be life-threatening.
It’s impossible to completely rid your home of all mold spores, but there are effective ways to remove mold and prevent it from growing to dangerous levels. These steps often involve cleaning up mold colonies and addressing the source of the mold, such as water damage or leaks creating a moist environment.
Failure to properly remove the mold or tackle its underlying causes can lead to prolonged exposure, which mold can cause more serious health symptoms over time.
What are the Long-Term Effects of Black Mold Exposure?
The sheer presence of mold spores in a space usually doesn’t pollute the air because they aren’t easily airborne. But some substances that molds emit are. Mold spores emit special toxins called mycotoxins in self-defense against environmental threats.
Mycotoxins are released into the air when a mold colony is disturbed. These minute particles, which are as small as 0.03 microns, can easily latch onto particles floating in the air. As such, mycotoxins are more likely to be inhaled in an infested space, posing an even greater risk than mold spores themselves.
Stachybotrys produces a special type of mycotoxins called trichothecenes, which have been shown in studies to be detrimental to humans, animals, and plants. In fact, there have been many attempts to use trichothecenes in creating lethal biological weapons.
When inhaled into the respiratory system, trichothecenes and other mycotoxins can give rise to allergic reactions like a stuffed nose, itchy eyes, etc. If they continue to accumulate in the body, they can break out into the bloodstream, causing more severe health problems.
A 2004 study shows that living in damp indoor spaces significantly increases the risk of contracting upper respiratory tract symptoms as well as excessive asthma symptoms. People with weak immune systems are more likely to develop hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
Other serious long-term health effects include:
- Sick building syndrome (SBS)
- Trouble breathing that can lead to respiratory infections or fungal infections
- Lung disease
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Muscular pain
- Circulation issues, etc.
- Memory loss
- Problems with steady focus
- Weight gain
- Light sensitivity
- Persistent fatigue
- Hair loss
How Do You Treat Exposure to Black Mold?
Treatment for mold exposure depends on numerous factors, from the degree of exposure to the intensity of symptoms, medical history, and more. Mold can affect individuals differently, and depending on these factors, you may need specific drugs for the fungal infection as well as for particular symptoms. For instance, if black mold spores have heavily colonized your bloodstream, you’ll most likely be placed on special antifungal drugs and other medications to stimulate blood circulation. If you have a mild exposure that triggers symptoms like sneezing or itchy eyes, you may only need to treat these allergic reactions with regular allergy treatments.
However, it’s always advisable to seek out an allergist if you’re experiencing any signs of mold allergies. Your allergist will first determine the type of allergens you may have been exposed to, possibly caused by inhaling or touching mold, using a skin prick test or blood test. A skin prick test can check for up to 50 different allergens at once.
Once the trigger is traced out, your allergist will recommend ways to remove any mold allergens both within your body and around your surroundings. You’ll then receive prescriptions for antihistamines.
These drugs suppress the effects of histamine – immune response substances whose production in the body goes into overdrive during allergic reactions. Antihistamines can be prescribed to help remedy symptoms like runny nose, sneezing, and itchiness, which are common symptoms of mold exposure.
If you’re grappling with stiff head and nasal congestion, your allergist can recommend using decongestants (nasal sprays or decongestant capsules). As their name implies, decongestants deflate swollen nasal passages. However, they do not treat the root cause of the symptoms. They’re ideal for providing temporary relief while the effects of curative drugs kick in gradually.
In severe cases of toxic mold syndrome or persistent allergic reactions, you may also be placed on other prescription drugs like Montelukast, which is used for treating symptoms like hay fever (allergic rhinitis) and even asthma.
How Can You Prevent Black Mold?
If you or any member of your family have experienced symptoms of black mold exposure lately, you can take measures on your own to prevent it from reoccurring.
Note, however, that at best, you’ll only be able to clean up visible black mold – you might end up leaving some stones unturned.
Some common places to check for mold in homes include:
- Around nooks on shower caps
- Around sinks
- Around refrigerators
- Basements
- Inside air-conditioning units
If the mold colony is small, you can easily get rid of it by wiping the surface with a mold-removing spray. But you need to be very careful and thorough-going, using proper tools and gears. Or you could make things worse with a sloppy job.
The mold spores may stick on the clothes or material you use to wipe it, and you may unknowingly spread the colony even further when the infested material comes in contact with unaffected surfaces.
After cleaning out existing mold colonies, you can prevent new ones from spring up by:
- Fixing water leakages
- Properly ventilating bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry
- Using dehumidifiers to control humidity
- Inspecting your home regularly for signs of water damage or mold
- Treating paints used in your walls and ceilings with mold inhibitors
- Disposing flood-damaged carpets
If the mold colony is extensive, you might want to hire a professional to remove it. If you’re renting, you can tell your landlord about it so they can arrange for the mold removal.

When Should You Call in the Professionals?
You need to call in a professional when the mold colonies have grown extensively around a spot or if you find them popping up rapidly in several pockets of space around the home.
In some cases, you may have to call in a professional even when the mold colony isn’t quite extensive. In fact, you might need to call them in to rid your home of invisible mold.
Professional mold removal services usually comprise mold testing, mold inspection, mold removal, and mold remediation.
Mold Testing: This usually involves measures used to identify the presence of molds and the type of mold present in a colony. During these tests, the professionals will check for the level of saturation of mold spores on surfaces and in the air around every square foot of the home. They’ll then collect the samples and analyze their DNA to identify their strains.
The test results need to be as accurate as possible to enable effective removal remediation.
Some services use special testing tools that enable greater accuracy, including:
- Thermal imaging assessments – the use of infrared or thermal tools to identify the presence of moisture and mold buildup in hard-to-see places, including behind walls rooflines, and foundations.
- Saturation testing – The most accurate testing method to date for checking the presence of airborne mold spores
- Drone inspections – the use of drones to collect photos, videos, and air samples around hard-to-reach places such as rooflines.
Mold Removal: Mold removal services do not attempt to rid your home of molds completely – something that’s virtually impossible because we’re immersed in a sea of molds all around us. Rather, they’ll focus on removing dangerous colonies that pose health risks to the occupants.
Mold Remediation: They can also focus on restoring natural order in the ecosystem of molds in the surrounding, reverting the presence of mold spores around the home to normal, natural levels.
Prevent Mold Growth Today
Now you know how to protect yourself and your loved ones from the toxic effects of black mold. By keeping black mold at bay, you can prevent both short-term and long-term exposure, which has been linked to a long list of illnesses.
At Moisture Master Pros, we take a tailored approach to mold control, ensuring that each home maintains a balanced ecosystem of molds.
We’ll test for the presence of molds using special techniques like thermal imaging assessment and saturation testing to ensure the accuracy of our tests. After the tests, we can implement a customized mold removal or mold remediation plan for your home.
Call us today!