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Black mold infections

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Black Mold Infections

Black Mold is a fungal infestation that has become as notorious as a mycotoxin producer that can cause human mycotoxicosis. Stachybotrys chartarum is a species of mold that is extremely toxic to humans. It is often called black toxic mold or black mold.

The main symptoms from black toxic mold include problems with mental cognition, breathing, vision, internal organs, pain and/or discomfort. Since black toxic mold attacks and damages the immune system, this can lead to a wide range of symptoms. Severity of symptoms depends on the amount of mycotoxins in the environment and the length of exposure.
People who have weaker immune systems and autoimmune problems will be more affected by black toxic mold. Similarly, infants, children, elderly and people with chronic illnesses will usually have more severe symptoms. For a full list of symptoms please see page 2.
As a natural antibiotic, oxygen under pressure reduces and even eliminates fungal, bacterial and viral activity while concurrently strengthening the body and the body’s immune system.

Hyperbaric oxygen is effective as a primary therapy in reducing the neurotoxic effect of black mold and boosting the immune system response. Oxygen effect on improved microcirulation and toxin elimination in combination with antibiotics and antifungal medications will increases the penetration of antimicrobials to the infected tissues while reducing the negative side effects of antibiotics.

Benefits of HBO in infections:

  • OXYGEN IS NATURAL ANTIBIOTIC. Its effect increases with pressure
  • HBO oxygenates all tissues and fights bacterial, viral and fungal infections
  • HBO works well with antifungal medications increasing their potency and decreasing their side effects
  • HBO increases the function of all organs resulting to improved immune system and elimination of symptoms
  • HBO initiates release of stem cells up to 900% the normal amount which acts as a potent and long term anti-inflammatory agent
  • HBO initiates brain neo-vascularization important in improved brain activity and elimination of neurological symptoms
  • HBO decreases inflammation by clearing lactic acid and other inflammatory chemicals
  • Prophylactic HBO therapy restores the microcirculation and boosts the immune system therefore enabling the body to fight off future infections.

Treatment protocol:

Hyperbaric oxygen sessions are 90 minutes long at treatment depth of up to 2.4 ATA of pure oxygen. Number of sessions needed depends on the severity of the condition, and can be determined upon assessment by hyperbaric medicine professional. An average of 20 to 60 sessions is usually required to clear symptoms.

At BaroMedical, the screening of the clients and the progress of therapy are monitored with the most advanced equipment: laser Doppler blood flow, tissue oxygen monitor and digital camera.

Further reading:
  1. Andrassy, K., Horvath, I., Lakos, T., and Toke, Z. 1980. Mass incidence of mycotoxicoses in Hajdu-Bihar county. Mykosen 23:130-133.
  2. Andrienko, E. V., and Zaichenko, A. M. 1997. Certain peculiarities of biological action of the stachybotryotoxin preparations. Microbiol. Z 59(3):41-46.
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2000. Update: Pulmonary hemorrhage/hemosiderosis among infants-Cleveland, Ohio, 1993-1996. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 49(09):180-184.
  4. Cooley, J. D., Wong, W. C., Jumper, C. A., and Straus, D. C. 1998. Correlation between the prevalence of certain fungi and sick building syndrome. Occup Environ Med 55:579-584.
  5. Corda, A. C. 1837. Icones fungorum hucusque cognitorum I. Prague.
  6. Croft, W. A., Jarvis B. C., and Yatawara, C. S. 1986. Airborne outbreak of trichothecene toxicosis. Atmospheric Environment 20:549-552.
  7. Cruz Perez, P., Buttner, M. P., and Stetzenbach, L. D. 2001. Specific detection of Stachybotrys chartarum in pure culture using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Mol Cell Probes 15:129-38.
  8. Dearborn, D. G., Yike, I., Sorenson, W. G., Miller, M. J., and Etzel, R. A. 1999. Overview of investigations into pulomonary hemorrhage among infants in Cleveland, Ohio. Environ Health Perspect 107 (6):495-499 (Supple. 3)
  9. Dill, I., Trautmann, C., and Szewzyk, R. 1997. Mass development of Stachybotrys chartarum on decomposable plant-pots made of recycling paper. Mycoses 40:110-114.
  10. Drobotko, V. G. 1945. Stachybotryotoxicosis: A new disease of horses and humans. Amer. Rev. of Soviet Med. 2 (3):238-242.
  11. Elidemir, O., Colasurdo, G. N., Rossmann, S. N., and Fan, L. L. 1999. Isolation of Stachybotrys from the lung of a child with pulmonary hemosiderosis. Pediatrics 104:964-966.
  12. Etzel, R., Montana, E., Sorenson, W., Kullman, G., Allan, T., Olson, D., Jarvis, B., Miller, J. D., and Dearborn, D. 1998. Acute pulmonary hemorrhage in infants associated with exposure to Stachybotrys atra and other fungi. Arch Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 152:757-762.
  13. Flappan, S. M., Portnoy, J., Jones, P., and Barnes, C. 1999. Infant pulmonary hemorrhage in a suburban home with water damage and mold (Stachybotrys atra). Environ Health Perspect 107:927-930.
  14. Forgacs, J. 1972. Stachybotryotoxicosis. Pages 95-128 in: Microbial Toxins. S. Kadis, A. Ciegler, and S. Ajl, eds. Volume 8, Fungal Toxins. Academic Press, New York.
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  16. Fung, F., Clark, R., and Williams, S. 1998. Stachybotrys: Still under investigation. Clin Toxicol 36:633-634.
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  24. Hinkley, S. F., Jiang, J., Mazzola, E. P., and Jarvis, B. B. 1999. Atranones: Novel diterpenoids from the toxigenic mold Stachybotrys atra. Tetrahedron Letters 40:2725-2728.
  25. Hinkley, S. F., Mazzola, E. P., Fettinger, J. C., Lam, Y. F., and Jarvis, B. B. 2000. Atranones A-G, from the toxigenic mold Stachybotrys chartarum. Phytochemistry 55:663-673.
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  28. Hintikka, E. -L. 1978. Stachybotryotoxicosis in horses. Pages 181-185 in: Mycotoxic Fungi, Mycotoxins, Mycotoxicoses: An Encyclopedic Handbook. Volume 2, Mycotoxicoses of domestic and laboratory animals, poultry and aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates. T. D. Wyllie and L. G. Morehouse, eds. Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York.
  29. Hintikka, E.-L. 1978. Human stachybotryotoxicosis. Pages 87-89 in: Mycotoxic Fungi, Mycotoxins, Mycotoxicoses: An Encyclopedic handbook. Vol 3, Mycotoxicoses of Man and Plants. T. D. Wyllie and L. G. Morehouse, eds. Marcel Dekker, New York.
  30. Hodgson, M., Miller, D., Jarvis, B., and Storey, E. 1998. Mycotoxins and building related illness-authors reply. J Occup Environ Med 40:763-764.
  31. Hodgson, M. J., Morey, P., Leung, W., Morrow, L., Miller, D., Jarvis, B. B., Robbins, H., Halsey, J. F., and Storey, E. 1998. Building-associated pulomonary disease from exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus versicolor. J Occup. Environ. Med. 40:241-249.
  32. Jarvis, B. B. 1991. Macrocyclic trichothecenes. Pages 361-421 in: Mycotoxins and Phytoalexins in Human and Animal Health. R. P. Sharma and D. K. Salunkhe, eds. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
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  34. Jarvis, B., Sorenson, W. G., Hintikka, E., Nikulin, M., Zhou, Y., Jiang, J., Wang, S., Hinkley, S., Etzel, R., and Dearborn, D. 1998. Study of toxin production by isolates of Stachybotrys chartarum and Memnoniella echinata isolated during a study of pulmonary hemosiderosis in infants. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:3620-3625.
  35. Jarvis, B. B., Zhou, Y., Wang, S., Sorenson, W. G., Hintikka, E.-L., Nikulin, M., Parikka, P., Etzel, R. A., and Dearborn, D. G. 1996. Toxigenic molds in water-damaged buildings: Dechlorogriseofulvins frm Memnoniella echinata. J Natural Products 59:553-554.
  36. Johanning, E. 1998. Stachybotrys revisited. Clin Toxicol 36:629-631.
  37. Johanning, E., Biagini, R., Hull, D., Morey, P., Jarvis, B., and Landsbergis, P. 1996. Health and immunology study following exposure to toxigenic fungi (Stachybotrys chartarum) in a water-damaged office environment. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 68:207-218.
  38. Jong, S. C., and Davis, E. E. 1976. Contribution to the knowledge of Stachybotrys and Memnoniella in culture. Mycotaxon 3:409-485.
  39. Knapp, J. F., Michael, J. G., Hegenbarth, M. A., Jones, P. E., and Black, P. G. 1999. Case records of the Children Mercy Hospital, Case 02-1999: A one-month-old infant with respiratory distress and shock. Pediatric Emergency Care 15:288-293.
  40. Korpinen, E.-L. 1974. Studies on Stachybotrys alternans IV. Effect of low doses of stachybotrys toxins on pregnancy of mice. Acta path. microbiol. scand. Sect. B., 82:457-464
  41. Larsen, F. O., Christensen, L. H, Clementsen, P., Gravesen, S., Skov, P. S., and Norn, S. 1996. Microfungi in indoor air are able to trigger histamine release by non-IgE-mediated mechanisms. Inflamm Res 45:S23-S24.
  42. Lee, M.-G., Li, S., Jarvis, B. B., and Pestka, J. J. 1999. Effects of satratoxins and other macrocyclic trichothecenes on IL-2 production and viability of EL-4 thymoma cells. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health 57:459-474.
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  46. McCrae, K. C., Rand, T., Shaw, R. A., Mason, C., Oulton, M. R., Hastings, C., Cherlet, T., Thliveris, J. A., Mantsch, H. H., MacDonald, J., and Scott, J. E. 2001. Analysis of pulmonary surfactant by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy following exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum (atra) spores. Chem Phys Lipids 110:1-10.
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  48. Nikulin, M., Pasanen. A.-L., Berg, S., and Hintikka, E.-L. 1994. Stachybotrys atra growth and toxin production in some building materials and fodder under different relative humidities. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 60:3421-3424.
  49. Nikulin, M., Reijula, K., Jarvis, B. B., Veijalainen, P., and Hintikka, E.-L. 1997. Effects of intranasal exposure to spores of Stachybotrys atra in mice. Fundam. Appl Toxicol. 35:182-188.
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  54. Tantaoui-Elaraki, A., Mekouar, S. L., El-Hamidi, M., and Senhaji, M. 1994. Toxigenic strains of Stachybotrys atra associated with poisonous straw in Morocco. Vet Hum Toxicology 36:93-96.
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