Common Symptoms

• Common symptoms of black mold exposure include headache, itchy or watery eyes, itchy skin and sneezing. The symptoms are often ignored because they resemble cold or allergies.
  
  

Severe Symptoms

• The more severe symptoms of prolonged exposure include sexual dysfunction, loss of appetite, weight loss, prolonged headaches, hair loss, nose bleeds and severe fatigue. Other symptoms, such as breathing problems, coughing up blood, diarrhea, nausea, rashes or sores, short-term memory loss, swollen glands and joint and muscle pain, also have been reported.
  
  

Treatment

• If a patient is not treated, exposure to black mold can lead to cancer, bleeding of the lungs, long-term memory loss, brain damage, blindness and death.
  
  

Misdiagnosis

• Some patients have been misdiagnosed with such conditions as asthma, emphysema, sinus infections, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia when the real cause is black mold.
  
  

Factors

• Leaky pipes and roofs, flooding, poor ventilation and blocked gutters can increase the risk of black mold in the home.