Respiratory Effects in Workers from Post-Katrina Related Airborne Exposures

Details

• Personal Author:
  Glindmeyer HW ; Jones RN ; Lefante JJ ; Rando RJ
• Description:
  Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005 with high winds and a tidal surge that flooded about 80% of the city for several weeks. In the aftermath of the hurricane flood event, restoration workers risked respiratory illness from inhaling airborne dust, mold, and bacteria. In order to investigate and quantitate this risk, we performed a 5-year epidemiologic study of a group of 898 workers from the New Orleans area, who mostly worked in the building, construction, and maintenance trades or custodial services, and most of whom had performed various restoration work activities, such as demolition, trash and debris management, sewer/waterline repair, landscape restoration, and mold remediation. We assessed exposure to dust, bacterial endotoxin, and microbial glucan for the study subjects for the period 2005 to 2012. For 2005 and 2006, we obtained and analyzed an OSHA database of dust measurements made during restoration work in Southeast Louisiana. We then collected additional samples for airborne dust between 2007 and 2012, and assayed some of these samples for bacterial endotoxin and microbial glucan. Average total and respirable dust exposures in 2005 were as high as 5.2 and 2.8 mg/m3 respectively, and frequently exceeded the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limits (15 and 5 mg/m3, respectively). Thereafter, measured dust exposures decreased by about an order of magnitude within the first year after Katrina and then more gradually declined through 2012. Average exposures to endotoxin and glucan in 2005 were imputed to be as high as 256 EU/m3 and 118 ug/m3, respectively, and likewise decreased dramatically after 2005. Between 2007 and 2012, we administered annual lung function tests and respiratory health and occupational questionnaires to the study subjects. The associations between restoration work, exposure, and lung function and respiratory symptoms were examined by statistical techniques. Significant respiratory symptoms reported by the study cohort included episodes of transient fever with cough (29%), sinusitis (48%), pneumonia (3.7%), dyspnea (34%) and new-onset asthma (4.5%). Prevalence rates for post-Katrina sinus symptoms, transient fever with cough, dyspnea, and new onset asthma were significantly elevated for those who did restoration work compared to those who did not and the prevalence rates increased with increasing restoration work dust exposure dose. Lung function in the study population was slightly depressed overall but was not significantly different between those with and without restoration work exposure. While we did not find any exposure-related excess declines in lung function, there was some evidence of a healthy worker effect that could have obscured lung function changes in the exposed group. Overall, our results demonstrate that post-Katrina restoration work was associated with certain adverse effects on respiratory health, especially sinusitis, toxic pneumonitis, and asthma. These results support the need for continuing surveillance of the respiratory health of workers engaged in restoration work activities in the aftermath of major flood events. Management of flood restoration workers' exposures to dust and microbial contaminants, through engineering controls, such as wet suppression of dust emissions, and the proper use of respiratory protective equipment, is recommended to mitigate the risk of acquired respiratory disease. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Bacteria Construction Industry Cyclonic Storms Dust Endotoxins Fungi Lung Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety

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• Keywords:
  Bacterial Dusts Construction Workers Disaster Clean-up Disaster Recovery Exposure Assessment Hurricanes Lung Function Molds Natural Disasters Respirable Dust Respiratory Diseases

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• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-63
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056827
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-101417
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R01-OH-008938, 2013 Sep; :1-63
• Contact Point Address:
  Roy J. Rando, ScD, CIH, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Global Environmental Health Science, Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St., Suite 2100, New Orleans, LA 70112-2704
• Email:
  rando@tulane.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  Tulane University of Louisiana
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20070701
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20120630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ae15d975adfd5ed68f509ad28c1d35c6d4fd0f9342a1e5448c76b21ee1a9757d51befb8b02db00c579657fbf9d484ffab0e184c50e6deb5f4d3e2813d366be7a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218914/cdc_218914_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 477.21 KB ]