When it comes to toxic mold, five main categories pose significant health risks: Penicillium, Fusarium, Stachybotrys, Aspergillus, and Cladosporium.

 These groups encompass numerous mold species, each with varying degrees of harmful effects, ranging from allergic reactions to potentially fatal conditions. These molds can thrive indoors, making them a common concern in residential spaces.

Stachybotrys (Black Mold)

Known for its severe danger, Stachybotrys, or black mold, releases mycotoxins that can lead to serious health issues. It favors cellulose-rich materials kept in damp conditions, such as paper products, ceiling tiles, and wood. Particularly harmful to infants, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems, exposure to this mold can result in significant illness.

Penicillium

With around 200 species, Penicillium molds are widespread in the air and soil, mainly causing food spoilage. Their presence indoors typically signals high humidity levels and can attach to moist surfaces like walls and carpets. Exposure to Penicillium can lead to conditions such as nail fungus and asthma.

Cladosporium

Cladosporium, one of the most prevalent and hazardous molds, can vary in color from green to black. It consists of about 40 species, often found on painted surfaces, wood, and fabrics. Chronic exposure may cause severe respiratory issues, including pulmonary edema and emphysema.

Fusarium

Thriving in cooler temperatures, Fusarium molds commonly infest water-damaged carpets and textiles. They can induce allergic reactions, asthma, and serious respiratory diseases and are recognized by their orange hue.

Aspergillus

Aspergillus is considered the least severe among the dangerous mold categories but still warrants caution. Out of its nearly 200 species, only 16 are known to cause human illness, typically non-fatal if addressed promptly. This mold, appearing in yellow-green shades, is a frequent indoor contaminant.

All molds grow in the same places even the most “dangerous.” Any place is that is dark and accumulates moisture is a potential area for mold to grow. It can grow on just about any organic surface in your home or place of work if the conditions are right. Most common moisture sources are from leaks in the home.Since there Because there are literally thousands of mold species in our world, it is nearly impossible to remove them all. We are exposed to molds every day since it grows inside and outside. Mold has its place in nature. But we must keep our homes from becoming a breeding ground.

While mold itself is a common occurrence, it's essential to recognize that not all molds are created equal. 

Traditionally, people have often referred to molds like Stachybotrys or Chaetomium as "black mold," even though molds can exhibit a range of colors, and not all of them are toxic.

Among the vast variety of molds, Stachybotrys and Chaetomium are known for being particularly toxic due to their production of mycotoxins. However, it's important to acknowledge that many molds can produce toxins, and molds that don't produce toxins can still have health effects on individuals, depending on their susceptibility.

In general, mold becomes problematic when it proliferates in excessive quantities or when it thrives alongside an active water leak. Under such circumstances, any type of mold can have detrimental effects on indoor air quality, structural integrity, and potentially contribute to health issues. Therefore, addressing mold concerns promptly and effectively is crucial to maintaining a healthy living environment.

We’re a modern home, office and vehicle mold search service for hyper-sensitive individuals, and we’re one of only a handful in the nation. 

As a functional medicine practice, with locations in Texas and Arkansas, we have seen the devastating impact mold toxicity has on patients who have had mold exposure. We have also walked through this firsthand. Quite often, it's at the root of chronic illness. The usual path is to hire a traditional mold inspector who looks for dampness, leaks, water staining, visible mold, and musty odors. 

Unfortunately, much too often, that turns up nothing. It's not uncommon for people to hire two or more inspectors to try to locate the problem. That was our personal experience, and that of many of our patients.

Enter the mold dog. A patient, desperate for answers as to where the mycotoxins were coming from, stumbled upon this solution in Florida. It just so happened that the owner/trainer was going to be passing through Texas. It wasn't even 5 minutes, and the mold dog found mold hidden in the walls in two bedrooms. It was this discovery that set us on a journey to talk to the owner of the Florida Canine Academy, get our own dog, and get her trained. Xia is now serving not only our patients but other distressed residents in Texas, Arkansas, and surrounding regions looking for answers.

Ability to smell the mold: Unlike moisture or temperature meters, dogs can reportedly smell mold even when conditions for mold growth aren't ideal or when the conditions no longer exist, but the mold spores are still present.

Xia was trained and certified by Bill Whitstine, Master Canine Trainer and the creator of Mold Dogs. Her intensive training at the Florida Canine Academy was over a three month period providing over one thousand hours. 

Bill Whitstine pioneered training dogs to detect arson, termites, narcotics, bedbugs, and mold. Training follows the same standards and methods used to train ATF arson, bomb, and drug dogs.

Xia continues her training daily with her handler Lane to keep her calibrated. As well, she has quarterly and annual recertifications performed by Bill.

Absolutely they can! This is common question and concern. Mold gives off particles and spores that a mold dog can smell with a very sensitive nose. Gravity pulls these to the floor where the dog will alert. A trained handler observes how the dog points revealing the source.   

Mold detection dogs, like Xia, have a unique way of smelling that differs significantly from humans. When Xia searches for mold, she uses special slits on the side of her nose to purge the air before it enters her lungs, effectively preventing mold spores from entering her body and causing harm.

While we acknowledge a minimal risk in Xia's role as a mold detection dog, two key factors reassure us:

1. Brief Exposure vs. Consistent Exposure: Xia's brief inhalation during detection is substantially less risky compared to continuous exposure to mold, which is what many families and pets unfortunately endure.
2. Outweighing Benefits: The substantial benefits Xia provides in helping make homes safer and healthier for families and children are invaluable and greatly outweigh the slight risks involved.

Xia's contribution is crucial in enhancing the safety and well-being of numerous individuals. To further ensure her health and safety, Xia receives meticulous care under the functional and holistic guidance of Dr. Rodney Russell. This extra level of attention ensures that Xia remains in optimal health, enabling her to continue her vital work in mold detection.

Mold detection dogs are motivated by treats and affection, not financial gains. They receive rewards for their efforts, regardless of whether they detect mold or not.

Mold detection canines are renowned for their remarkable precision, boasting an impressive accuracy rate exceeding 90%. Thanks to their rigorous training and extraordinary olfactory abilities, these dogs are recognized as one of the most reliable methods for identifying mold presence currently available.

To some degree, she can. While she doesn't provide measurable results, her body language can offer a general indication of the problem's extent.

The concept of 'dead mold' is a misnomer. Mold exists in two states: viable and non-viable. Viable mold is active, while non-viable mold is inactive, akin to a state of hibernation. It waits for suitable conditions - the right temperature, moisture, and food source - to become active again. Non-viable mold doesn't emit mycotoxins, but its dry nature makes it more likely to become airborne, posing a risk of inhalation or spreading to new areas.

It's a common misconception that an area is mold-free if a moisture meter shows no moisture. However, moisture meters are limited to detecting just that – moisture. They are useful in identifying potential mold hotspots when they detect moisture. Conversely, a lack of moisture doesn't rule out the presence of non-viable mold, which could be remnants from a previous water intrusion that has dried up. 

Both viable and non-viable mold forms are concerning and should be removed for health and safety reasons.

There are 3 main reasons why some people react to mold exposure in their homes, while other do not:  

(1) Genetic Predisposition – Approximately 24% of the population are unable to detoxify mold due to the expression of the HLA-DR gene. This means even a small exposure can create a severe reaction.  

(2) Previous Exposures – Mold exposure can literally retrain your body’s response to environmental contaminants at the cellular level. This can create auto-immune response in your body that can impact you for years in the future.  

(3) Current Health Position – Mold at its core is an immunosuppressant. So if your immune system is already compromised (ie. Lyme disease, auto-immune disease, cancer, etc.) then adding mold to the mix can be catastrophic.

Mold remediation can fail for two primary reasons: missing the true source or not completely eliminating it.

With Mold Dog Knows, we expertly address the identification challenge that is so often not discovered. To ensure your efforts are not in vain, we also provide trusted remediation resources and referrals, guiding you towards effective solutions.

The cost varies depending on the size of your property, its location, and potential travel expenses. For an accurate quote, please contact us at [email protected].

The approach varies based on your specific needs. If detailed information about the levels or species of mold present is required (say, for insurance purposes), combining our mold dog search with conventional testing methods is advisable. 

However, the insights provided by a mold dog search alone are typically sufficient for a remediation expert to effectively address the issue.

While the majority of our clients are located in the North Texas and south down to Austin, San Antonio and Houston, we occasionally go to NW Arkansas and we will also travel throughout the United States. Please reach out and we can discuss some options. 

Addressing mold issues starts with pinpointing their origin, a task our canine search process handles effectively. Typically lasting between one to two hours, this meticulous search covers every nook and cranny of your home or workplace, ensuring no area is overlooked.

After our trained and certified canine locates the mold, we clearly indicate these spots so you can take action. It's important to note that not all mold-infested areas pose the same level of risk, so consulting a remediation expert to evaluate the situation and plan the cleanup is essential. However, it is our opinion, from a health perspective that all mold is bad and should be removed.

Our approach differs significantly from the traditional ERMI testing, known for its extended waiting period for results. It’s quite simple and straight forward, our mold detection dog delivers instant findings, enabling you to proceed promptly and decisively with mold remediation efforts. This is highly beneficial as mold spreads rapidly, and helpful when trying to make a decision on a new living space.

Regarding remediation, there are two critical stages.  Initially, it involves eradicating the primary mold sources, a crucial step since mere cleaning is futile if these sources remain. The subsequent stage focuses on thoroughly removing the residual mold spores, fragments, and mycotoxins, ensuring a comprehensive and successful cleanup process.You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know where it’s coming from. Our canine search process averages 1 - 2 hours, depending on the size of the home or building, and includes a complete and thorough search with every area of the home or office being covered.  

We will mark the location of the mold as identified. Because not all contaminated areas are equal in magnitude, it’s vital that you then hire a remediation company to have them evaluate and determine a strategy for clean-up.

Unlike the traditional ERMI, which can take several days for results, the results of our mold searches are immediate and comprehensive, which will allow you to move forward with confidence in mold remediation.

Our immediate results, as provided by our mold dog, are an excellent solution when faced with the stress and time constraints imposed by such things as renting or purchasing a home.

When it comes to true remediation (aka clean up), two phases are included: the first is removing the sources of contamination. If these aren’t removed, then no cleaning will ever be successful. The second phase is removing the spores, fragments, and mycotoxins left behind by the mold sources.

Mold has become a widely recognized problem among the functional medicine, holistic and naturopathic communities as the root cause of a variety of illnesses and health challenges. There’s a whole lot more to mold than basic allergic reactions, as many assume. We’re talking leaky gut, auto-immune diseases, migraines and headaches, eczema and psoriasis, stealth infections, and even brain damage. This is why most mold-literate doctors will tell you the first step to recovery is not only properly identifying and removing the mold from your home but, in many instances, getting away from it immediately while waiting for answers and clean-up. This is why we take it so seriously. No one truly understands this battle better than a doctor who has been through this nightmare himself with his family, in addition to helping hundreds upon hundreds of patients.

We offer mold identification services for your home, office, and automobile with Xia, the mold dog.

Bodily mold testing can determine if you have a fungus or mold-related illness from a contaminated environment. This can be done in-office or shipped to your location.

A visit with Dr. Russell, at the Natural Healing Center (in-office or virtual) will access your situation and provide you with a strategic protocol to address your health, lowering your toxicity levels in a timely and tolerable manner.

Mold toxicity in the body is an important topic to address since I have seen a significant rise in mold-related symptoms across the board with my patients. Symptoms can vary depending on the individual and their lifestyle, and mold is often a great pretender and instigator of dormant viruses or bacteria. Unfortunately, the signs of mold toxicity are often unrecognized or misdiagnosed by traditional doctors. In fact, millions of people in the US have varying degrees of mold toxicity and don’t even realize it because they’ve never even heard about it because it’s a condition that’s not made its way to mainstream medicine.

Mainstream, traditional doctors will examine you, and without proper context, they often fail to uncover the root cause of your health challenges. Mold illness goes predominately undiagnosed due to the inordinate lack of knowledge on environmental and toxicological diseases in the US. This results in an enormous number of people being left to advocate for themselves as they turn to the internet and Facebook groups to heal. Those can certainly be helpful, but this can backfire as it often directs people into improper treatment paths that can involve bad timing and/or bad protocols. When you work with a functional doctor, we will review your habits and environment to piece together a complete picture of your lifestyle, while also making sure to run the correct labs throughout treatment while we get to the root cause and downstream effects of the mold toxicity in your body.

Mold can trigger inflammation, cause oxidative stress, impede immune function, cause itchy rashes and hives, result in brain fog, insomnia, and headaches due to brain inflammation, and re-engage dormant issues like Lyme disease and other co-infections. Indoor mold is often invisible to the human eye, and it’s highly dangerous, carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and potentially life-threatening.

Mold is a type of fungus, and it can be found pretty much everywhere. There is no consensus on the exact number of species, but according to the CDC, estimates range from tens to hundreds of thousands. Among these are approximately 18 of the most common mold species which reproduce with spores, and when inhaled, can trigger allergic reactions. Certain mold species also produce mycotoxins that trigger a series of adverse downstream side effects in humans.

Mold spores prefer warm, damp areas, which is why they are commonly found indoors, in rooms with high humidity like basements, kitchens, and bathrooms. However, don’t think it won’t find other areas, as mold can appear in any damp place, including carpets, drywall, under wallpaper, on furniture and in the stuffing, inside leaky pipes, flooded areas, and more. It can be especially dangerous if a mold-harboring area is in your bedroom, since that’s where you spend so many hours breathing deeply, or in a closet, since all of your clothes will be exposed as a result.

Although your home is the first place you should inspect, other sites, like your work, can be causing the problem as well. Mold grows inside air vents and spreads quickly around a home or office, affecting the health of everyone in contact with it. Or maybe it’s the new, not-so-clean gym, where it’s humid, a perfect environment for mold growth.

Mold is also quite common in the foods we eat. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), it’s estimated that 25 percent of the world’s food crops are contaminated with mycotoxins. The biggest offenders are coffee, peanuts, spices (coriander, turmeric, and ginger), and grains.

There are numerous ways in which mycotoxins enter your body:

• Breathing: When inhaling, spores and mycotoxins come into contact with our respiratory system.

• Eating: Ingestion is another common way for pathogens to enter our bodies, especially if the food has been sitting on your counter for some time.

• Skin contact: Mycotoxins can enter our bodies even through dermal absorption, especially if there are cuts and wounds on the surface.

Mycotoxins mostly enter our body when we inhale, and the mucous membrane in our nose is there to stop them. However, when the air concentration of these molecules is high, like in mold-infested rooms or a wet sauna, they can get past our mucus membrane and invade our upper respiratory tract and lungs, causing infections and irritations. And once mycotoxins come into contact with your blood, they can travel anywhere. They have been detected in many tissues and organs, including urine, cancerous breast tissue, breast milk, spinal fluid, lymph nodes, and kidneys, and it looks like the sinuses are the primary mold harboring place. Molds can also be found in brain tissue, and will make an impact with an infection of the central nervous system. 

The answer to one's genetic predisposition toward mold illness lies in the expression of their HLA-DR gene. Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) is the protein the HLA-DR gene expresses and is found on most cells in your body. It signals to your immune system which cells are okay and which cells it should fight off. When this protein is functioning properly, the immune response is activated when foreign threats enter the body, such as biotoxins. Unfortunately, those with the ill-functioning HLA-DR gene have a misprocessing of antigens, which inhibits the immune system from reacting correctly to infection and toxins. Without the production of antibodies that are needed for deactivating and removing mold toxins, these mycotoxins are stored throughout the body. More often than not, they store in the fatty regions of the body, like the brain, and wreak havoc on one’s health. The body also begins to exhibit autoimmune symptoms and disease states, and the body loses its ability to correctly differentiate between foreign and owned cells. With over 36 different diseases that can result from a HLA-DR carrier’s exposure to mold, it’s no wonder that traditional medicine has trouble treating toxic mold symptoms.

So if you have gene mutations such as MTHFR and HLA, which one in four people do, your immune system is not able to produce some of the vital antibodies to mycotoxins. This means that at least a quarter of the population has a difficult time fighting off the mycotoxins that are so prevalent in our environment.

Toxic mold exposure is, in essence, mycotoxicosis. For reference, a mycotoxin is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by mold. Mycotoxicosis is used synonymously with mold toxicity or mold illness, and it occurs when a person does not have antibodies to mycotoxins and mycotoxins have accumulated to high levels in their brain and body. While not all species of mold produce pathogens (disease-causing elements), several species of fungi are known to be pathogenic and produce toxic substances, mycotoxins being one of them.

Many of us are exposed to mold daily; however, 75% of us are genetically able to fight off the toxicity. So what does that mean for the other 25%? Let’s find out.