Bacteria in a water-damaged building: associations of actinomycetes and non-tuberculous mycobacteria with respiratory health in occupants

Details

• Personal Author:
  Caulfield SM ; Cox-Ganser, Jean M. ; Kreiss, Kathleen ; Laney AS ; Park, Ju-Hyeong ; Sumner AD ; Turner WA ; White, Sandra K.
• Description:
  We examined microbial correlates of health outcomes in building occupants with a sarcoidosis cluster and excess asthma. We offered employees a questionnaire and pulmonary function testing and collected floor dust and liquid/sludge from drain tubing traps of heat pumps that were analyzed for various microbial agents. Forty-nine percent of participants reported any symptom reflecting possible granulomatous disease (shortness of breath on exertion, flu-like achiness, or fever and chills) weekly in the last 4 weeks. In multivariate regressions, thermophilic actinomycetes (median=529 CFU/m2) in dust were associated with FEV1/FVC coefficient=-2.8 per inter-quartile range change, p=0.02, percent predicted FEF(25-75%) (coefficient=-12.9, p=0.01), and any granulomatous disease-like symptom odds ratio (OR)=3.1, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.45-6.73. Mycobacteria (median=658 CFU/m2) were positively associated with asthma symptoms (OR=1.5, 95% CI=0.97-2.43). Composite score (median=11.5) of total bacteria from heat pumps was negatively associated with asthma (0.8, 0.71-1.00) and positively associated with FEV1/FVC (coefficient=0.44, p=0.095). Endotoxin (median score=12.0) was negatively associated with two or more granulomatous disease-like symptoms (OR=0.8, 95% CI=0.67-0.98) and asthma (0.8, 0.67-0.96). Fungi or (1 -->3)-beta-D-glucan in dust or heat pump traps were not associated with any health outcomes. Thermophilic actinomycetes and nontuberculous mycobacteria may have played a role in the occupants' respiratory outcomes in this water-damaged building. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Asthma
  • Asthma, Occupational
  • Dust
  • Endotoxins
  • Fungi
  • Lung Diseases
  • Men
  • Microbiology
  • Mycoses
  • Occupational Health
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Humans
  • Men
  • Women
  • Workers
  • Work-environment
  • Exposure-levels
  • Microorganisms
  • Bacteria
  • Bronchial-asthma
  • Questionnaires
  More +
• ISSN:
  0905-6947
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maine ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Vermont ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  RHD - Respiratory Health Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  24-33
• Volume:
  27
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047254
• Citation:
  Indoor Air 2017 Jan; 27(1):24-33
• Email:
  gzp8@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202399/cdc_202399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 130.13 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:205125d9c00fc509ae4743aaa926f2fd381a68888f54a7e9de6e821444299fb95ae7b66d0336bc66071431e39d0398968bbfb0d1c2f4be95f284dc5de2f6370f