[EMERGING]Emerging
Review of proposed injury mechanisms from exposure to water-damaged buildings
A review summarized proposed biological pathways linking water-damaged building exposure to reported illness, covering mycotoxins, bacterial agents, and immune dysregulation.
How to read this
This library reports what studies found. An entry describes a study's design, its findings in its own terms, and its limits. Nothing here is a claim about what a Sage Co. home does, delivers, or prevents.
Last reviewed August 30, 2026.
What they studied
- A narrative review of the literature on exposures present in water-damaged buildings.
- Proposed mechanisms including mycotoxin toxicity, endotoxin and bacterial fragments, and immune dysregulation.
- Reported treatment approaches described in the cited literature.
What they found
- The author reported that water-damaged building exposure involves a mixture of fungal, bacterial, and chemical agents rather than a single organism.
- Immune dysregulation and inflammatory signaling were described as the most commonly proposed pathways in the reviewed sources.
- The review reported wide variation in the quality of evidence supporting the described treatment approaches.
What this study does not establish
- A narrative review, not a systematic synthesis or meta-analysis.
- Mechanistic proposals are largely drawn from animal and in vitro work.
- Treatment claims in the cited literature are not established by controlled trials.
- This entry reports the study. It is not a statement about any building Sage Co. designs or constructs.
Source
Hope J (2013). A review of the mechanism of injury and treatment approaches for illness resulting from exposure to water-damaged buildings, mold, and mycotoxins. The Scientific World Journal 2013:767482.
reviewmechanismsmycotoxinsimmune
Elsewhere under Moisture & Mold
- Meta-analyses of respiratory health outcomes reported in damp or moldy homes
- Review of epidemiologic evidence on dampness, mold, and dampness-related agents
- Bacteria, molds, and toxins measured in water-damaged building materials
- Actinomycetes and non-tuberculous mycobacteria measured against respiratory findings in a water-damaged office building
- Review of actinobacteria in indoor environments and reported respiratory effects
- Culture and molecular methods compared for actinobacteria on water-damaged building material
- Inflammatory response in mice after instillation of Streptomyces spores from a moldy building
- Co-occurrence of bacterial and fungal secondary metabolites measured in moisture-damaged homes
- Chaetomium globosum prevalence in surveyed water-damaged buildings and metabolite production on building materials
- Metabolites of Wallemia sebi measured at water activity below common mold-growth thresholds
- Associations between fungal species and specific water-damaged building materials
- Systematic review of fungal exposure and hypersensitivity pneumonitis
- Review of Stachybotrys chartarum, trichothecene mycotoxins, and damp building–related illness
- Immune response measured after single versus repeated Stachybotrys lung exposures in mice
- Nasal and olfactory effects of satratoxin G measured in rhesus monkeys
- Olfactory neuron loss and inflammation measured in mice after intranasal satratoxin G
- Lung inflammation measured in mice exposed to Aspergillus versicolor spores from a moisture-damaged building
- Inflammatory gene expression measured in macrophages exposed to toxins from damp-building fungi
- Lung responses measured in mice exposed to purified toxins from building-isolated Penicillium species
- Human brain cell responses measured at satratoxin concentrations reported from water-damaged buildings
- Time-series and clinical-trial data reported on illness in water-damaged building occupants
- Neuropsychological and electrocortical measures compared between mold-exposed subjects and controls
