Mold Quiz

c). Penicillium fungi are the most frequent cause of the green mold spots on old bread. Mouldy bread is not safe to eat as some green mould species can produce mycotoxins.

(Photo source: Henry Mühlpfordt, 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.

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.

a) they look like the Christian Holy Water sprinkler device, called aspergillum.

(up) Aspergillum (Photo Source: Pearson Scott Foresman, Wikipedia); (down) Aspergillus niger conidiophore (Photo source: Kathie Hodge, Flickr).

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

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

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.

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

c) 600 000. Furthermore, according to the UNICEF statistics, of all pneumonia-related mortalities of children under the age of five, half can be traced to air pollution.

a) 30-50%. Studies show that consistent associations of dampness with adverse health effects, strongly suggesting a causation by dampness-related exposures.