Certainly good advice to be careful with any microorganism, however,
although Stachybotrys produces potent toxins, it is not an infective human
pathogen and shouldn't require the level of care in handling of something
like TB.
With regard to the wallboard, it isn't so much the gypsum filling as the
cellulose cover that Stachybotrys enjoys. No doubt the filler maintains an
appropriately high water activity once it has become soaked.
Austin Reade, PhD, RSM(CCM)
Reade BioSciences Inc phone (902)423-8369
1136 Cartaret Street fax (902)423-8313
Halifax, NS, B3H 3P3 Canada email rbs at hfx.andara.com
Yjgent <yjgent at aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000304203638.03535.00000386 at ng-cm1.aol.com...
> << I am looking for a product called cellulose agar. I was wondering if
anyone
> knows where I can purchase this media or how I can make it myself
(recipe).
> I am looking for a media specific for the cultivation of Stachybotrys
atra.
> >>
>>> First of all I would hope that you are a microbiologist or scientist
working in
> an approved lab with proper safety equipment. This organism (or it's
spores)
> can be very toxic from what I have read about it.
>> But I had a thought about it last week since it made it to the TV news
show 48
> Hrs. Since it loves moist plaster board I was thinking about how to get
plaster
> into a media with enough moisture. But like I said it was just a thought.
>> As for the safety issue I would not work on this organism outside of an
> approved Bio Hazard Safety level 3 environment (like a TB lab).
>> John
> John Gentile M(ASCP) President - Rhode Island Apple
Group
>yjgent at aol.com> Microbiologists do it with culture.
