Is exposure to mold dangerous?
Mold growth can not only lead to structural damage to your home (like sagging floors), but it can also adversely affect your health. You can be exposed to mold by touching moldy materials, eating moldy foods, and breathing in microscopic mold spores in the air. You can inhale over a half million spores per minute without even knowing it. Mold allergy symptoms may include skin rash, runny nose, irritated eyes, cough, congestion, and aggravation of asthma. A 1999 Mayo Clinic study found that allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS) was diagnosed in 93% of cases of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), a condition that affects an estimated 37 million Americans. According to a 2005 study, exposure to mold in damp homes can double the risk of asthma development in children. Most health problems caused by molds are related to allergic reactions; however, molds can also invade the body as agents of infection. Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis is a serious lung disease similar to pneumonia in which mold
