Metal Fume Fever: A Review of the Literature and Cases Reported to the Louisiana Poison Control Center

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ahsan SA ; Katner A ; Lackovic M ; Palermo C
• Description:
  Metal fume fever (MFF) is an important occupational-related illness resulting from inhalation of volatile metal oxides, especially zinc, that are produced during welding or cutting of metal materials. Onset of MFF is rapid, occurring within a few hours after inhalation of the fumes. Symptoms include fever, chills, cough, dyspnea, headache, myalgia, and malaise. Symptoms are self-limiting and typically resolve within 24 hours with a subsequent short-lived tolerance to zinc oxide fumes that disappears after one to two days of avoidance. In this report, we present an overview of MFF's history, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, regulatory guidelines, and prevention recommendations. This review is followed by a description of MFF cases reported by the Louisiana Poison Control Center to the Louisiana Office of Public Health's Section of Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology during a two-year period. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Environmental Monitoring Hazardous Substances Metals Metal Workers Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Poisoning Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety

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• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Fumes Inhalation-studies Metal-fume-fever Metal-fumes Metal-industry-workers Metal-poisoning Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Occupational-respiratory-disease Standards Toxic-gases

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• ISSN:
  0024-6921
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  348-351
• Volume:
  161
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036504
• Citation:
  J La State Med Soc 2009 Nov-Dec; 161(6):348-351
• CAS Registry Number:
  Zinc oxide (ZnO) (CAS RN 1314-13-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Wholesale and Retail Trade
• Performing Organization:
  Louisiana State Office of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  The Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society
• End Date:
  20150630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:74329c0adea4102d34a1a282f0ac4b2f08afd418e9ed45c51eeb81428ece311ddbc34a3e9c8e8013175c586e5115d0fe1c4f80ddd8a3eff9c5c22626a5f25538
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187899/cdc_187899_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 275.94 KB ]