Subject: Aspergillus on clothing

From: [email-masked] (Jeffrey C. May)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 15:37:22 -0400

To all:
   A client of mine put clothing in a damp basement cedar closet for
several months over the summer.  In the fall,all clothing was covered with
a stringy, brown mold with yellow patches. 

   Under the microscope, all the stringy material was hyphae;  all
conidiophores observed were Aspergillus, spores about 5 microns, round to
oval and articulated. The yellow patches consist of "sporangia" though I
do not know if this is the correct term for Aspergillus.  They contain
groupings of possibly 8 smooth, round spores;  the sporangia are large
(+/- 150 microns).

   Interspersed among hyphae were sub-micron crystals (many) that
apparently recrystallized (in the lactic acid medium) to large irregular
yellow crystals after 24 hours.

   Would appreciate any comments on possible ID, correct terminology and
ID of crystals.

(FYI, after slight waving of piece of paper in basement, concentration of
Penicillium was about 1,000,000 spores/cubic meter with Burkard sampler.)

Thanks
Jeffrey C. May
[email-masked]
<http://www.cybercom.net/~jmhi>  Case studies of moldy houses, photomicrographs.