Description

This article is from the CD-Recordable FAQ, by Andy McFadden (fadden@fadden.com) with numerous contributions by others.

7-22] Is there really a fungus that eats CDs?

(2005/10/12)

Yes. It appears to be limited to tropical climates. Two articles from
mid-2001 (no longer on original sites, so archive.org links are provided):

- http://web.archive.org/web/20041101034932/www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_328113.html
- http://web.archive.org/web/20040608203933/http://www.nature.com/nsu/010628/010628-11.html

The incident in question was discovered by a researcher from Spain who
visited Belize in Central America. What is believed to be a strain of
Geotrichum entered a CD from the outer edge and destroyed the aluminum
reflective layer as well as some of the polycarbonate.

A person in Australia reported a few years earlier that store-bought pressed
CDs were getting eaten, but gold CD-Rs were doing rather well.

Continue to:

• prev: 7-21] Can I recycle old CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs?
• Index
• next: 7-23] How do I clean CD-R and CD-RW discs?