Mold Quiz

a) Penicillium/Aspergillus mold are the most common mold type in 38% of the investigated households.

b). Penicillin, the first antibiotic, was isolated and discovered in 1928 by Dr. Alexander Fleming from Penicillium mold.

d) All of the above. Furthermore, prolonged exposure to mold can manifest in symptoms ranging from rashes, allergies and flu-like symptoms to neurological damage and even death.

b) 21%, which translates to approximately 4.6 million people suffering from mold-related respiratory problems only in the United States.

b) Lobsters, because the shell of arthropods (crustations, insects, spiders, and such animals) and the cell walls of fungi (molds) are made of chitin, a structural polysaccharide (sugar) molecule.

The cell wall structure of Fungi (Photo source: Maya and Rike, Wikimedia)

c) 96. A clinical survey discovered mold in mucus of 96% of patients suffering from chronic sinus infections, a disease which annually impacts more than 20 million adults U.S.

b) To recycle organic matter through decomposition and mineralization. In fact, everything lignin-containing can only be dissolved by saprophytic fungi, without which life on this planet wouldn’t be possible due to sheer amounts of debris formed by undecomposed plant material.

Nutrient cycle (Photo source: Jakob Assmann)

a). Rhizopus fungi create black mold spots on old bread. It is never safe to eat mouldy bread as ingesting black mold can cause nausea, vomiting, and allergic reactions.

c). Applying bleach to a mouldy wall will only contaminate the space with dangerous evaporations. Bleach only destroys the superficial part of the organism, while the rest of the mold and its spores can survive and continue to spread.

c). Moisture is the crucial ingredient for mold to thrive. Generally, the most common reasons for indoor mold spread are plumbing and roof leaks, wet basements, bad yard drainage, and high humidity.