How dangerous is mold in pregnancy?

Particularly in the case of an existing pregnancy, women should take care not to be exposed to mold. She should neither inhale mould nor eat or drink mould. Possible poisoning or illnesses caused by mould could be passed on to the unborn child and damage it.

In addition, the therapy of a pregnant woman is more difficult than that of a non-pregnant woman, because only a few medications are approved for use during pregnancy. Although there are no studies that prove that after eating mould, the toxins of the mould are transferred to the embryo and damage it, it cannot be excluded. Therefore, the pregnant woman should be especially careful when choosing her food and make sure that it is not moldy.

Even if the mould infestation is low, the food should be avoided as a precaution. Also the “noble mould” on some cheeses, which is not harmful to health, should be avoided during pregnancy. However, this is not due to the effect of the mold itself, but to the risk of infection with certain bacteria, the listeria.

Therapy

Consuming only small amounts of foods that are infested with mold usually does not require therapy. In this case, the mold is excreted after some time in the intestine with the remaining stool.A therapy becomes necessary if a large amount of mould has been consumed or if this happens over a longer period of time. In case of acute poisoning with fungal toxins, charcoal tablets should be taken, which can reduce the consequences of such poisoning.

There is also the possibility of an intestinal enema to prevent the toxins from being absorbed from the intestine. Drugs can be prescribed to treat the gastrointestinal symptoms. In order to prevent and detect any negative consequences, a blood test should be performed. Especially the control of the liver values is important in case of intoxication with molds.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of mould consumption is usually made by a thorough anamnesis. If symptoms of food poisoning occur, the affected person should remember which foods were last eaten. If it is no longer possible to find out what caused the symptoms, a gastroscopy can be performed to determine the cause. Since most food poisoning treatments are very similar, it is not always necessary to find the exact cause of the symptoms before starting treatment.