Stachybotrys chartarum is a greenish black cellulotytic fungus that grows in wet low-nitrogen environments with a high cellulose content such as hay, straw, wicker, and wood chips, as well as building materials such as ceiling tile, drywall, paper vapor barriers, wallpaper, insulation backing, cardboard boxes, paper files, fiberboard, the paper covering of gypsum wallboard, particleboard, jute, dust, and wood, i.e. in houses damaged by water. The fungus produces mycotoxins such as macrocylic trichothecenes and trichoverroids in its spores. It was recognized as the cause of outbreaks of a new disease in horses and other animals in eastern Europe in the 1930s which were characterized by irritation of the mouth, throat, and nose; shock, dermal necrosis, a decrease in leukocytes, hemorrhage, and nervous disorder followed by death. Horses are especially susceptible to these toxins which they may ingest with infested hay; 1 mg of pure toxin can kill a horse. Stachybotrys was implicated in fatal pulmonary hemorrhage/hemosiderosis in infants. Image width: 98.5 micrometers.
