Respiratory protection for use against organic dusts.
Authors
Lenhart SW; Reed LD
Source
Principles of health and safety in agriculture. Dosman JA, Cockcroft DW, eds., Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Inc., 1989 Oct; :193-196
Link
NIOSHTIC No.
00223069
Abstract
The question as to whether air purifying respirators protect against overexposure to organic dusts was considered in the context of a discussion of respiratory protection against organic dusts. Clinical and laboratory studies have produced conflicting results about whether this type of respirator can provide protection for healthy and sensitized workers against organic dusts. For example, a study of 12 persons with pigeon breeders disease found that the condition of one patient who continued his exposure to organic dusts with the use of a negative pressure respirator deteriorated into a permanent pulmonary injury. A case report of another patient who had experienced many episodes of pigeon breeders disease attributed to exposure to organic dusts revealed that he was able to handle his racing pigeons without any problems while wearing a respirator. The confusion and contradictions found in the reports was thought to be due to improper respirator selection, especially since dust exposure concentrations were seldom reported. None of the studies provided any information about user training or fit testing prior to the respirators being used. Recommendations for future research directed toward assessing the ability of air purifying respirators to protect against organic dusts were discussed. The authors conclude that studies should focus on determining in/facepiece exposures experienced by agricultural workers working in environments containing airborne organic dusts and the severity of any acute or chronic effects associated with these exposure. Reliable information on dose response relationships and workplace protection factors is also needed.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.