Respiratory symptoms, immunological responses, and aeroallergen concentrations at a sawmill

Details

• Personal Author:
  Graneek BJ ; Halpin DMG ; Lacey J ; Nieuwenhuijsen MJ ; Taylor-AJ-Newman ; Venables KM ; Williamson PAM
• Description:
  An epidemiological, immunological, and environmental investigation of current and former workers at a sawmill and of a control population not occupationally exposed to wood or wood products was presented. About 3,300 cubic meters of timber was cut in the green mill at this facility each week. Conveyor belts were used to remove the sawdust from beneath the enclosed band saws. About 5% of the cut planks were treated with a fungicide in an automatic process with manual loading and unloading of the treatment tank. Of the 100 current workers, 95 completed questionnaires and performed spirometry. Blood samples were taken from 88 who also had skin prick tests performed. Seventeen exworkers were also studied. Exposure to wood dust at this mill was associated with an increased prevalence of symptoms related to nasal and conjunctival irritation and with a high prevalence of symptomatic bronchial hyperreactivity. Workers exposed to high concentrations of dust had more work related respiratory symptoms than those exposed to lower dust concentrations and cases of extrinsic allergic alveolitis occurred only in the more heavily exposed to wood dust with the higher concentrations of fungal spores. These workers had high concentrations of specific immunoglobulin-G against extracts of sawdust and Trichoderma-koningii. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Epidemiology Fungi Hypersensitivity Lung Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Skin Wood

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• Keywords:
  Allergic-reactions Dust-exposure Immunological-tests Lung-irritants Molds Occupational-exposure Respiratory-system-disorders Sawmill-workers Skin-tests Wood-dusts
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  165-172
• Volume:
  51
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00219768
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 1994 Mar; 51(3):165-172
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  University of California - Davis
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19900930
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:24160036280688a95b14f5a6f94b2bc045c496362545a4c0265a1c9e44d418c26c3d0264b644bd2976610dbd9093587c3f66c18dee6cb947fba046843d6b5c38
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205526/cdc_205526_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.48 MB ]