Mold Quiz

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

c) Because they look like paintbrushes – The entire genus Penicillium got its name because their spore-bearing structures look like paintbrushes, which are called “penicilli” in Latin.

Penicillium sp. conidiophore (Photo source: AJC1, Wikimedia).

b). Molds are multicellular, filamentous fungi, while slime molds belong to a more primitive group of organisms called the Protista, which form unicellular or colonial forms such as amoebas and primitive algae.

(left) slime mold (right) mold (Photo source: D. Sadikovic, Mold Busters)

e) All of the above. Prolonged exposure to molds can induce many different health problems, with intensity depending from mild irritations in healthy people to life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients.

The correct answer is 8%, and the most common types (in two-thirds of cases) belong to the Penicillium/Aspergillus group.

a) 13%, and the most common types (in more than half cases) are from the Penicillium/Aspergillus group.

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.

c) Number of cells. Molds are multicellular, filamentous organisms, while yeasts are aggregations of single-cell organisms which aggregate and act as an individual. Interestingly, some fungi can revert from a yeast form to a filamentous form, depending on certain ecological conditions.

Fungi under microscope;(left) Yeast (right) Mould (Photo source: Bob Blaylock, Wikimedia)

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

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.