Black mold is amongst one of the most dangerous types of mold found most commonly in older buildings and in areas where moisture is hard to contain (i.e. humidity, near water like oceans and lakes and areas where rain is constant. The way black mold works is it breeds in areas where water build up happens. If a sink has a leaky pipe and it’s constantly getting the back wall (dry wall) wet, it will start to penetrate the wall at some point and nest a breeding ground perfect for black mold organisms to take root and breed like rabbits, probably much faster.
Once the mold sets in it spreads out. As it reaches areas where it’s dry, the mold shoots out millions of spores into the air that take root wherever they land. If you have a fan on in the room, it can blow these invisible (virtually) small black mold spores very far away. What makes them dangerous is that they thrive in water and can eat you alive if breathed in. Once in the air they are very light and can stay alive in their inactive state for several months living on the moisture in the air.
Spores that get into the sofa cushions tend to breed due to the moisture surrounding the sofa itself. When we breath for example we push out vaporized moisture, when we talk we spit, when we sweat we transfer that moisture through our clothing to the sofa. it’s very easy for an infestation to develop and when that happens everyone will start to get sick.
Black mold symptoms usually start with nausea and headaches. At first both of these are low, but still a bit intolerable. Once the spores start to grow and incubate in your body the body fights it back with a vengeance. You start to throw up, your head hurts so bad your desperate to make it stop. People living in a mold infested home will all get sick and all be bed ridden eventually. The problem is that they have no idea what’s happening. Luckily when people start experiencing this strange sickness and go to the doctor they can actually figure out what the problem is and a short research hour online and the symptoms themselves will (as keywords in a google search) give you the answer- that black mold symptoms are the same and that you need to check your home for the infection.