Importance of taking environmental exposure histories

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Oregon Worker Illness and Injury Prevention Program
• Description:
  Many environmental and occupational diseases manifest as common medical problems or have nonspecific symptoms (as in these cases). By taking a thorough exposure history, the health care provider (HCP) can play a vital role in detecting, treating, and even preventing disease that is due to toxic exposure. Etiology will distinguish a disorder as an environmental illness; thus, if a thorough exposure history is not undertaken by the HCP, the etiologic diagnosis may be missed, treatment may be inappropriate, or exposure could continue. The case studies described above highlight the importance of a thorough environmental exposure history as well as prompt notification of the health department. For example, because lead is a reportable condition in Oregon [Case 1], additional toy medallions were tested (in other areas of the state), leading to their voluntary recall by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in September 2003. For Case 2, the linkage of occupational exposures in the flavorings industries to the lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans led to the study of the risk of exposure to diacetyl (2,3-butanedione), a commonly used food flavoring. It further resulted in the NIOSH alert "Preventing Lung Disease in Workers Who Use or Make Flavorings". [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Delivery Of Health Care Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety
• Keywords:
  Environmental-exposure Environmental-health-monitoring Exposure-assessment Injury-prevention Medical-care Medical-examinations Medical-monitoring Medical-screening Occupational-hazards Risk-analysis Safety-education

  More +
• Publisher:
  Oregon Department of Human Services
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Newsletter
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039583
• Citation:
  Putting Data to Work. Portland, OR: Oregon Department of Human Services, 2006 Sep; :1-4
• Contact Point Address:
  Oregon Department of Human Services, Public Health Division, Office of Environmental Public Health Toxicology, Assessment & Tracking Services Section (TATS), 800 NE Oregon Street #640 Portland, OR 97232
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Public Health Services, Portland, Oregon
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Putting Data to Work
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:351819a34dc5e7a0ac1827ce5f48a12743c9830825a61bcc110f1af5a431511d9e4b667ec19e548f32349a6bada83b7abe101e8ec519df3834e4c403d33db34f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192774/cdc_192774_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 999.91 KB ]