|
Conidia (spores) dimensions 15-25 microns.
A common allergen. It is found in plants, soil, grains,
textiles, and paper products.
Mold
is a kind of fungus that grows on plants and is mostly
found in damp musty places such as basements, bathrooms
and attics. It is an unsightly fixture in one’s
homes. Epicoccum sp is a mold found mostly in plants,
grains, soil, textiles, and paper products. These are
commonly seen as a secondary invader in plants, often
found growing outside in plant litter, decaying plants
and damaged plant tissue. These funguses also grow inside
on a large number of building materials including but
not limited to textiles, papers and insects. Some of
these species can often grow on water-damaged building
materials, where aureobasidium and cladosporium are
present. It is mostly saprophytic or weakly parasitic.
|
|
|
Epicoccum is mostly isolated from
air and occasionally develops in house dust. Most medical
reports call this fungus as an allergen but not in a
high efficiency. This fungus has the ability to grow
at 37 c and thus can infect human skin very badly. The
modes of dissemination of this fungus are dry spore,
wind and spores also released by hygroscopic movement.
The conidiophores of Epicoccum are usually short and
mostly grouped in clusters. Spores are globose, dark
brown and muriform (septa in both directions). Spores
are often found on colonies growing in culture as small
black dots. The growth of epicoccum sp has many characteristics.
It has a rapid growth rate and grows well on cellulose
surfaces although sporulation may be strain dependent.
Colony colors are often bright and can include yellow,
orange, red or brown. They mostly have orange reverse
pigment.
The molds found in our home do have
an effect on our health as well. It can cause serious
hazards to one’s health especially to those people
that suffer from allergies and asthma. The epicossum
sp also cause some affects to our body. This mold is
a potential allergent and may also cause irritation
to the body. Some people may experience type I allergies
such as hay fever and asthma due to the presence of
this mold in their homes. These molds do not cause any
serious health concerns to the human bodies. In fact
it is generally considered as a human pathogen. Till
now there have been no reports of any mold being linked
to any animal or human infection. The researches done
on this fungus have proved it as well.
The uses of epicoccum sp are many.
Antibiotics such as epicorazine A&B, flavipin and
indole 2 acetonitrile are produced using this mold.
Researchers are on the process of identifying more medicines
in which this mold can be successfully used. In fact
most of them are of the opinion that this fungus have
been not used to its full potential. We use this mold
for medicinal purposes but still there have been no
industrial uses identified from this mold. This mold
can be easily identified via air and direct sampling
methods. There is often confusion in many minds whether
epicoccum sp is a “black
mold” and actually it is not.
|
|
