Penicilliosis In Southeast Asia

Even though Penicillin was developed back in the 1940’s to help combat infections caused by bacteria and it was developed from penicillium mold, other species of penicillium molds can also cause diseases. One such disease, called penicilliosis, occurs predominantly in Southeast Asia.

The mold that causes the disease, Penicillium marneffei, is indigenous to the region and so the cases of the disease are generally confined to that area, although people traveling to the region can become infected if they are not careful. People particularly at risk are those diagnosed with HIV and AIDS and it has been called the third most common opportunistic infection in these people.

This mold is a fungus at room temperature, but like with any other mold, when it enters the body and is warmed up to body temperature, it changes into a yeast. The symptoms of a case of Penicilliosis are generally anemia, fever, lesions on the skin, generalized lymphadenopathy, abdominal pain, and weight loss. The skin lesions generally are located on the genitalia, face, ears, toes, and fingers, but the symptom that happens the most often is a skin rash that can cause small bumps on the top skin layer and some of these bumps can have ulceration. This happens most often on the upper part of the body.

Fungus cultures can be grown from the swabbing of skin lesions and this is to identify the infection as being Penicilliosis, but this is not the only way to detect this infection. A biopsy of bone marrow, skin lesions, or lymph nodes can also detect the presence of the fungi in the body. When the fungus is grown in a Petri dish, it has a flat green surface and a red color on the bottom.

It is advised that anyone with HIV or AIDS who is going to be traveling to the region of Southeast Asia should be very careful or to not travel there at all. This is a dangerous infection, especially in someone with a compromised immune system. Without treatment, this disease tends to have a high mortality rate and even when treatment is administered, the mortality rate still lingers around the area of twenty percent. Treatment often comes in the form of an antifungal drug called amphotericin and is followed up with a maintenance-type drug named itraconazole. If you have been to Southeast Asia recently and are experiencing any of the symptoms named here, you should seek medical treatment immediately.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Miami water Damage companies.

The Effects Of Mold In Your Laundry Hampers, And Bathroom Vents

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a good bath or shower a lot and one of the worst things that you can notice while you’re in the bathroom is mold starting to grow on the ceiling or on the wall. It appears as a splotchy growth that’s slowly creeping its way from one end of the room to the other and if you leave it untreated, it will cover your entire bathroom. You can scrub it off the walls with mold and mildew cleaner all you want to, but in the end if the infection has spread so far, you will probably have to replace the sheetrock in the bathroom. Sheetrock (or drywall) is a porous surface and mold cannot be effectively removed from it by surface cleaning. The mold will infect the entire depth of the board and most of the time there is not anything that you can do except throw it away and replace it.

Something that has been popular in the past and even in a few homes now is putting carpet in the bathroom. This is a very bad idea, because no matter how careful you might be, your toilet, sink, or bathtub is going to overflow eventually and leave you with a mess of soaked carpet and padding. Carpet needs to be dried as soon as possible when it comes into contact with water. Once the water dries naturally, the carpet will smell, especially if you are unlucky enough to have to live with only well water.

If you live in an older home and your bathroom does not have a vent to release the hot air and steam outside so that it does not attach itself to the sheetrock and become absorbed by it. This is a worthy investment to make and it should not cost more than $50 to $70 and maybe half a day of time to install if you do it yourself.

Whatever you do, do not leave damp towels, rags, or clothing in the bathroom closet or on the floor, especially if you have carpet in the bathroom. Your best bet is to use a plastic laundry hamper and put the dirty laundry in that and only in that so that even if the clothes do become moldy, it is not likely to infect the floor or the wall because of the plastic barrier.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Miami water Damage companies.

Mold And What It Does

I hate mold and you hate mold, but unfortunately it’s something that we all have to deal with on a daily basis. It lives either outside on the ground or inside our homes in the walls eating away the internal structure. You have no doubt seen it living on foods in your kitchen that have spoiled, perhaps on fruit or in jars of grape jelly. It is unsightly and also unhealthy. So, what is mold exactly?

Mold is a fungus. It lives both indoors and outdoors and there is not much that you can do to escape it. It is truly almost everywhere humans are and are not. They typically come in the colors of grey, blue, green, brown, black, and red and even more. While they are definitely unsightly, what most people do not realize is just how unhealthy living in a home contaminated with mold can be.

Mold living in your home can cause all kinds of medical problems and which one you will end up with is a matter of chance. You never know which condition mold will hand to you. It has been known to cause allergies and to aggravate people who have asthma and other respiratory conditions and also to cause skin rashes, damage to the central nervous system, and problems with vision.

The people who should be the most concerned with mold are the elderly, small children, pets, and those who have a weakened immune system. These tend to be people who are pregnant, who are HIV-positive, or are recovering from a surgery, especially a major one. They should take special care and if mold is found in a home, anyone fitting these descriptions should relocate until the mold is removed.

Mold also does damage to the internal structure of the home, eating the wood, sheetrock, carpet, and anything else that is organic. The sole job of a fungus such as mold is to decompose organic material such as dead plants and dead animals.

If you suspect that mold lives in your home, it is highly suggested that you purchase a mold testing kit and test your home for mold yourself. Follow the instructions exactly or the tests will be of no use. Send the tests off to be analyzed by a mold laboratory and when you receive the results back, if they are positive, contact a professional mold remediation company.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Texas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.