Look, moldy tomatoes, spoiled peanuts, long-haired mops, mold spots all over the wall... Who is doing the destruction? tinea pedis , onychomycosis... Who is the one who is causing trouble?
In fact, it is the real murderer - mold.
Image source: soogif
#1 Mold is a multifaceted
Although this guy has all the above crimes, it is not useless. For example, the magic drug Penicillin, the antibacterial world, is extracted from Penicillium. Penicillin is an efficient antibiotic with minimal side effects. Its debut has saved countless human lives. The fermented foods that we usually eat with great flavor, such as vinegar, soy sauce, fermented tofu, and cheese, are also masterpieces of mold.
Penicillin for injection丨Photo source: Contracted photographer/IC photo
As the saying goes, the better it will be as bad as it is. There is a terrifying character in the mold family - aflatoxin. This guy mainly grows in spoiled peanuts, corn and some cereal foods . It is extremely toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic. Its toxicity is 10 times stronger than the highly toxic drug potassium cyanide, and 28 to 33 times stronger than the highly toxic pesticide.
In addition, there are ergottoxin, clenosporus, oxaprotoxin, etc., which are all mold products that are very harmful to humans and animals.
Source: Paixin Creative
How does mold break through various corners such as walls, kitchens, bathrooms, balcony, windows, pools, etc.? This relies on two other tough characters in the family - Grape Episces and Aspergillus nigra, one black and the other green (sometimes you can see a small number of brown variants). These bad guys not only look black but also release an unpleasant and pungent odor. A large amount of mold can cause bronchial asthma, , which endangers human health.
In addition to every corner of our home, some parts of our body are also places that molds like, such as nails. After mold enters, it will cause onychomycosis; for example, the foot, where frequent sweating and difficult ventilation is not easy to breathe, the consequence of being favored by molds is tinea foot.
Source: Paixin Creative
#2 What is mold?
Look at those humid and warm places, those velvet, floc or spider web-like colonies that are visible to the naked eye are mold. They are large in shape, loose in texture, dry in appearance, opaque in appearance, and have a loose or tight shape.
In fact, mold is not a taxonomy noun, but a general term for fungi that form branched mycelium. If you enlarge the mold, you will see many crisscrossing transparent rubber tubes intertwined together. These tubular filaments are the mycelium of mold, which is the basic unit that constitutes the nutrients of mold. Its diameter is generally 3 to 10 microns, which is about several times to dozens of times thicker than the cells of bacteria and actinomycetes .
Aflatoxin growth on rotten bananas | Source: Paixin Creative
Mildew has extremely strong reproductive ability, and any fragment on its mycelium can develop into a new individual under appropriate conditions. There are also many ways of reproduction of mold, which can form various spores that are difficult to deal with. These spores are like seeds of plants, growing wherever they float. The number of spores produced by each individual is tens of billions, sometimes hundreds of billions, hundreds of billions or even more. These spores have a long dormant period and strong stress resistance, which is very conducive to the spread and reproduction of molds in nature.
#3 Drink mold
Defense mold
Do not work without a mildew prevention technology. This starts from the three conditions for mold reproduction: eradication of spores, control humidity, and control temperature.
Source: Paixin Creative
Eradication of spores - Taking food as an example, it should be placed in a low-temperature and dry place and sealed to prevent spores from falling into the air. Question: If the food becomes moldy, can you cut off the moldy area or cook it at high temperature?
The answer is no. Even if there is no mold spot, mycotoxin has already penetrated and cannot be completely decomposed when boiled in water. For example, aflatoxin needs to be decomposed at a high temperature of 280℃, and the temperature of frying is only 200℃. We cannot decompose aflatoxin through cooking. So once the food appears, it starts to grow mold, please remember to throw it away without hesitation.
Source: Paixin Creative
Control humidity - When mold appears in the environment, check if there is water seepage on the wall, is there no timely ventilation in the room, and the humidity is too high? Remember not to wipe the mold spots that grow with a wet rag, otherwise you will get a mold growth package - the longer you rub, the longer you get, the more you rub, the more you get, the endless.
You can use 84 disinfectant or some anti-mold spray to treat symptoms. Of course, to treat the root cause, opening the windows for ventilation, timely drying of water stains, and doing a good job of waterproofing on the wall are the keys to prevent mold. You can also use some sterilization and deodorizers to continuously disinfect and decompose molds on the surface of objects and air, remove spores, and achieve the effect of purifying the air and the environment.
Image source: Paixin Creative
Control temperature —There will be moisture in the clothes that are not completely dried, which provides the possibility of survival for molds. If you encounter a suitable temperature again, the reproduction rate of mold spores or mycelium will accelerate and will germinate and grow into colonies. Therefore, in the rainy season in the south, after washing clothes, baking them with a dryer at high temperature, or directly using a washing machine with drying and sterilization functions, the probability of meeting molds can be greatly reduced.
paixin Creative
If mold spots on the clothes have formed, you can choose some washing products containing protease to remove mold spots through biodegradation. If the clothes are more precious or the mold spots are larger, it is recommended to send them to a professional dry cleaner to better remove mold spots.
Friendly reminder: Since 84 disinfectant is a bleach, use it with caution when washing clothes. The following are different ways to deal with mold in different types of clothing, for reference only.
Author introduction
Hi Wenting, Biomedical Engineering Master.
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