By Katie Myers
Blue Ridge Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
After Helene, residents of Black Mountain noticed strange-colored mold was beginning to grow in some flooded buildings in town – and wondered if they should be worried for their health.
“There was sort of this fine mist that settled on everything around,” said Duke University microbiologist Asiya Gusa, who visited the area in January. “That could have been a combination of the silt and the mud that was in the air as well as potentially fungi and fungal spores.”
Concerned residents also told researchers they exhibited distressing symptoms, like headaches and coughing, after entering moldy buildings.
Now, Gusa is working with a team of researchers at Duke University to understand what kinds of fungus might enter our homes and community buildings after climate disasters – and whether we can build back in a way that keeps us safe from potential health impacts.
The group, a combined team of engineers and scientists within the Duke Climate and Fungi Research Group, traveled to Black Mountain to study fungi and public health after Helene.
“We wanted to see what species of fungi are actually growing there? And did they come from the immediate outdoors? And how prevalent are they or how abundant are they in these indoor environments in particular,” Gusa told BPR.
To Gusa, the work is important not only to public health but to our understanding of how fungi work. Fungi are essential to the natural world, decomposing dead animals and plants to cycle their nutrients back into the environment. Many types of fungi don’t pose much of a risk to humans, but some that grow indoors can cause or aggravate illness. Mold damage is also a risk for the long-term structural stability of buildings.
In January, when the team visited Black Mountain, they encountered severe damage. Floodwaters had reached 27 feet and caused severe, widespread damage. The team spoke with community members and collected samples from two previously flooded buildings. They also sampled the air for spores.
According to Gusa, there aren’t many studies yet that focus on how fungal growth can impact people after a disaster, though there have been circulating reports of things like “Katrina cough” and other persistent respiratory problems. In the lab, the team will grow different fungal samples on a variety of building materials to see how they interact, and determine which species of flood-loving fungus are more toxic and which are fairly harmless.
Andrew Jones, a civil engineering professor at Duke University, is researching whether some building materials might be more resistant to toxic fungi.
“As fungi grow and they start breaking down different things – breaking down trees and drywall and our hardwood floors –they release chemicals that are not necessarily the best for us.”
The research can also feed into a broader understanding of how fungus and climate change interact, Gusa said. Some toxic molds, for instance, are becoming drug-resistant and potentially more tolerant to heat, which could be dangerous to humans, since body heat keeps us safe from many fungal infections.
“We are wanting to make sure that we can develop enough antifungal potential targets or new drugs that can be introduced to help us fight future infections,” Gusa said. “One of the other things that we’re looking at as far as climate impacts is the impact of heat stress and the ability for fungi to overcome can grow at temperatures that are consistent with body temperature and that might make them more infectious.”
The study will likely be ongoing for months, researchers said, and they hope to make recommendations for protecting buildings and human health in the aftermath of a disaster.
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