Does mold cause abnormal signal in the white matter of the brain bilaterally?

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Request for Question Clarification by welte-ga on 30 May 2005 06:27 PDT

Are you asking about MRI signal?

If you mean: can mold INSIDE your head cause abnormal signals on MRI
(or any other imaging study for that matter), sure, but it's unlikely
to be confined to the white matter.  In any case, if you have fungus
inside your head, you are quite sick and probably would not be
researching this on Google.

If you mean: can mold in your environment (i.e. under your
floorboards) cause a bilateral abnormal white matter signal on MRI,
the answer is: no, not likely.  "White matter" essentially corresponds
to the area of your brain where axons travel (sort of like telephone
wires --- they carry signals over long distances), and abnormal
signals that are confined to the white matter imply some kind of
disease confined to the axons, commmonly demyelinating diseases, for
example, multiple sclerosis.

Cheers.

1. Mould cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and will never actually
infect your brain! In fact mycological infections are even rare in the
bloodstream let alone the brain.

2. Environmental mould NO cannot affect your brain!

:)

Fungal central nervous system infections, while rare, do occur,
baz2121-ga.  Usually, this will happened in immunocompromised
patients.  Aspergillis, for example, can develop in the brain.

The "blood-brain barrier" is, unfortunately, not an unbreakable barrier.  

Cheers.