Lower respiratory tract inflammation in grain farmers

Essen, Susanna G. Von; Thompson, Austin B.; Robbins, Richard; Jones, Karen K.; Dobry, Charles A.; Rennard, Stephen I.

doi:10.1002/ajim.4700170119

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…This clinical syndrome was first described in the United States approximately 40 years ago in silo-unloading (May et al 1986; Von Essen and Romberger 2003; Von Essen et al 1990). Whereas farmers were more likely to describe cough or chest tightness while handling grain and grain sorghum (Von Essen et al 1990), ODTS has since been described following exposure to a variety of organic dust environments (Von Essen and Romberger 2003). Onset of symptoms usually occurs 4-8 hr after exposure and may last for several days.…”

Section: Airway Disease Manifistationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Respiratory Health Effects of Large Animal Farming Environments

May

Romberger

Poole

2012

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B

146

120

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With increases in large animal-feeding operations to meet consumer demand, adverse upper and lower respiratory health effects in exposed agriculture workers is a concern. The aim of this study was to review large animal confinement feeding operational exposures associated with respiratory disease with focus on recent advances in the knowledge of causative factors and cellular and immunological mechanisms. A PubMed search was conducted with the following keywords: airway, farm, swine, dairy, horse, cattle inflammation, organic dust, endotoxin, and peptidoglycan that were published between 1980 and current. Articles were selected based on their relevance to environmental exposure and reference to airway diseases. Airway diseases included rhinitis, sinusitis, mucus membrane inflammation syndrome, asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and organic dust toxic syndrome. There is lower prevalence of IgE-mediated asthma and atopy in farmers and their children, but organic dust worsens existing asthma. Multiple etiologic factors are linked to disease including allergens, organic dusts, endotoxins, peptidoglycans and gases. Large animal confinement feeding operations contain a wide-diversity of microbes with increasing focus on Gram-positive bacteria and archeabacteria as opposed to Gram-negative bacteria in mediating disease. Toll-like receptors (TLR) and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like innate immune pathways respond to these exposures. Finally, a chronic inflammatory adaptation, tolerance-like response in chronically exposed workers occurs. Large animal confinement farming exposures produces a wide spectrum of upper and lower respiratory tract diseases due to the complex diversity of organic dust, particulates, microbial cell wall components and gases and resultant activation of various innate immune receptor signaling pathways.

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Section: Airway Disease Manifistationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Respiratory Health Effects of Large Animal Farming Environments

May

Romberger

Poole

2012

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B

146

120

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“…Several studies have shown that farmers growing different types of grain and soybeans (1,2) and farmers raising livestock (3) have respiratory symptoms and diseases. This may have considerable impact worldwide considering there are approximately 3 million farm workers in the United States alone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Particle Size on Respiratory Protection Provided by Two Types of N95 Respirators Used in Agricultural Settings

Cho

Jones

et al. 2010

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

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This study compared size-selective workplace protection factors (WPFs) of an N95 elastomeric respirator (ER) and an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) in agricultural environments. Twenty-five healthy farm workers ranging in age from 20 to 30 years voluntarily participated in this study. Altogether, eight farms were included representing three different types: two horse farms, three pig barns, and three grain handling sites. Subjects wore the ER and FFR while performing their daily activities, such as spreading hay, feeding livestock, and shoveling. Aerosol concentrations in an optical particle size range of 0.7-10 μm were determined simultaneously inside and outside the respirator during the first and last 15 min of a 60-min experiment. For every subject, size-selective WPFs were calculated in 1-min intervals and averaged over 30 min. For the ER, geometric mean WPFs were 172, 321, 1013, 2097, and 2784 for particle diameters of 0.7-1.0, 1.0-2.0, 2.0-3.0, 3.0-5.0, and 5.0-10.0 μm, respectively. Corresponding values for the FFR were 67, 124, 312, 909, and 2089. The 5th percentiles for the ER and FFR were higher than the assigned protection factor of 10 and varied from 28 to 250 and from 16 to 223, respectively. Results show that the N95 ER and FFR tested in the study provided an expected level of protection for workers on agricultural farms against particles ranging from 0.7 to 10 μm. WPFs for the ER were higher than the FFR for all particle size ranges. WPFs for both respirator types increased with increasing particle size.

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“…Inhalation of grain dust causes an inflammatory response characterized by neutrophil recruitment to the lower respiratory tract. 7,8 In vitro studies indicate that extract of grain dust is capable of recruiting neutrophils by several mechanisms, including endotoxin-induced and non-endotoxininduced chemotaxis, activation of complement, and release of alveolar macrophage-derived neutrophil chemotactic activity. 7 To the best of our knowledge, there have been very few reports of serum neutrophil chemotactic activity during bronchial challenges in grain dust-induced asthma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%