Stachybotrys chartarum#Potential toxicity

The fungus was originally described scientifically in 1818 by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg as a member of the genus Stilbospora. His diagnosis emphasized the form of the spores, which he described as minute, sub-opaque, ovate, and agglomerated into subconcentric, water-soluble irregular clusters. He noted that the fungus adheres to paper, sometimes forming circles dotted with black. Stanley Hughes transferred the taxon to Stachybotrys in 1958. This genus was circumscribed in 1832 by Czech mycologist August Carl Joseph Corda, with Stachybotrys atra assigned as its type species. The species concept of Stachybotrys chartarum has been controversial, as several studies showed that there were several closely related species and cryptic species all under this name.

There are two chemotypes in S. chartarum, one that produces trichothecene mycotoxins such as satratoxin H and one that produces atranones.{{cite journal | vauthors = Andersen B, Nielsen KF, Thrane U, Szaro T, Taylor JW, Jarvis BB | title = Molecular and phenotypic descriptions of Stachybotrys chlorohalonata sp. nov. and two chemotypes of Stachybotrys chartarum found in water-damaged buildings | journal = Mycologia | volume = 95 | issue = 6 | pages = 1227–1238 | year = 2003 | pmid = 21149024 | doi = 10.1080/15572536.2004.11833031 | s2cid = 203881222 }}

S. chartarum is a slow-growing mold that does not compete well with other molds. It is only rarely found in nature, sometimes being found in soil and grain, but is most often detected in cellulose-rich building materials, such as gypsum-based drywall and wallpaper from damp or water-damaged buildings.{{cite book | vauthors = Samson RA, Houbraken J, Thrane U, Frisvad JC, Andersen B | date = 2010 | title = Food and Indoor Fungi | publisher = CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre | location = Utrecht, the Netherlands | pages = 1–398 }} It occasionally encounters human habitats with large amounts of cellulose, large temperature fluctuations, low nitrogen, no other molds, no sunlight, and ample constant humidity. The spores are released into the air when the mold is mechanically disturbed, particularly when wet. It is considered an uncommon contaminant of most indoor air.{{cite book |author=Donald G. Barceloux |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTTBPedwFfAC&pg=PT885 |title=Medical Toxicology of Natural Substances: Foods, Fungi, Medicinal Herbs, Plants, and Venomous Animals |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-118-38276-9 |page=885}}

Not all strains of S. chartarum produce mycotoxins, and under certain conditions some of these may gradually lose the ability to produce such toxins.{{Verify-inline|date=December 2023}} The presence of high indoor humidity does not imply that mycotoxin-producing S. chartarum is also present.{{Verify-inline|date=December 2023}}

Claims of health problems in humans and animals related to this mold have been made since the 1930s.{{cite journal | vauthors = Etzel RA, Montaña E, Sorenson WG, Kullman GJ, Allan TM, Dearborn DG, Olson DR, Jarvis BB, Miller JD | title = Acute pulmonary hemorrhage in infants associated with exposure to Stachybotrys atra and other fungi | journal = Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine | volume = 152 | issue = 8 | pages = 757–762 | date = August 1998 | pmid = 9701134 | doi = 10.1001/archpedi.152.8.757 | doi-access = free }} More recently, S. chartarum has been linked with so-called sick building syndrome. However, the link has not been firmly established in the scientific literature.{{cite journal | vauthors = Page EH, Trout DB | title = The role of Stachybotrys mycotoxins in building-related illness | journal = Aihaj | volume = 62 | issue = 5 | pages = 644–648 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11669391 | doi = 10.1080/15298660108984664 }}

In 1994 the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asserted that a number of infants in Cleveland, Ohio became sick, and some died from acute idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis (AIPH) following exposure to unusually high levels of S. chartarum spores.{{cite book | vauthors = Progovitz RF |date=2003 |title=Black Mold Your Health and Your Home |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9784qLnSeaAC&pg=PA95 |publisher=The Forager Press |page=96 |isbn=978-0-9743943-9-8}} A subsequent review done by the CDC found the previous investigation incorrectly analyzed data, and there was no evidence directly linking S. chartarum to AIPH.{{cite journal | vauthors = ((Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))) | title = Update: Pulmonary hemorrhage/hemosiderosis among infants--Cleveland, Ohio, 1993-1996 | journal = MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | volume = 49 | issue = 9 | pages = 180–4 | date = March 2000 | pmid = 11795499 | doi = |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4909a3.htm |access-date=2024-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615035512/https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4909a3.htm |archive-date=2024-06-15 }} This was further supported by a lack of S. chartarum in a similar cluster of infant AIPH that occurred in Chicago, Illinois.

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{{Reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite book | vauthors = Corda AC |year=1837 |title=Icones fungorum hucusque cognitorum |volume=1 |location=Prague |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pMlLAAAAcAAJ&q=atra&pg=PA21}}

{{cite book | vauthors = Ehrenberg CG |year=1818 |title=Sylvae mycologicae Berolinenses |location=Berlin |page=21 |language=la |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.086103569&view=1up&seq=23}}

{{cite journal | vauthors = Hughes SJ |title=Revisiones hyphomycetum aliquot cum appendice de nominibus rejiciendis |journal=Canadian Journal of Botany |volume=36 |issue=6 |year=1958 |doi=10.1139/b58-067 |pages=727–836 [812]}}

{{cite journal | vauthors = Li DW, Yang CS | title = Taxonomic history and current status of Stachybotrys chartarum and related species | journal = Indoor Air | volume = 15 | issue = Suppl 9 | pages = 5–10 | year = 2005 | pmid = 15910524 | doi = 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2005.00339.x | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2005InAir..15S...5L }}

{{cite web |work = GSD Species Synonymy | title = Current Name: Stachybotrys chartarum (Ehrenb.) | quote = S. Hughes, Can. J. Bot. 36: 812 (1958) |url=http://www.speciesfungorum.org/GSD/GSDspecies.asp?RecordID=306362 |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=19 November 2022}}

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• {{cite journal | vauthors = Pestka JJ, Yike I, Dearborn DG, Ward MD, Harkema JR | title = Stachybotrys chartarum, trichothecene mycotoxins, and damp building-related illness: new insights into a public health enigma | journal = Toxicological Sciences | volume = 104 | issue = 1 | pages = 4–26 | date = July 2008 | pmid = 18007011 | doi = 10.1093/toxsci/kfm284 }}
• {{cite journal | vauthors = Dyląg M, Spychała K, Zielinski J, Łagowski D, Gnat S | title = Update on Stachybotrys chartarum-Black Mold Perceived as Toxigenic and Potentially Pathogenic to Humans | journal = Biology | volume = 11 | issue = 3 | date = February 2022 | page = 352 | pmid = 35336726 | pmc = 8945704 | doi = 10.3390/biology11030352 | doi-access = free }}
• {{cite journal | vauthors = Ibrahim SR, Choudhry H, Asseri AH, Elfaky MA, Mohamed SG, Mohamed GA | title = Stachybotrys chartarum-A Hidden Treasure: Secondary Metabolites, Bioactivities, and Biotechnological Relevance | journal = Journal of Fungi | volume = 8 | issue = 5 | date = May 2022 | page = 504 | pmid = 35628759 | pmc = 9144806 | doi = 10.3390/jof8050504 | doi-access = free }}

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• {{cite web | vauthors = Nelson BD | title = Stachybotrys chartarum: The Toxic Indoor Mold. | location = New York | publisher = The American Phytopathological Society | work = APSnet Features | date = November 2001 | url = http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/stachybotrys/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050828033934/http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/stachybotrys/ | archive-date = 2005-08-28 }}
• {{cite web | url = https://www.cdc.gov/mold-health/data-research/facts-stats/ | title = Questions & Answers on Stachybotrys chartarum & Other Molds | work = CDC National Center for Environmental Health | date = 29 May 2024 }}
• {{Skeptoid | id= 4494| number=494 | title= Black Mold: Peril or Prosaic?| date= November 24, 2015| quote= | access-date=}}

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Category:Stachybotryaceae

Category:Fungi described in 1818

Category:Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg

Category:Building biology

Category:Fungus species