The association of chronic bronchitis and airflow obstruction with lifetime and current farm activities in a sample of rural adults in Iowa

Bioaerosol Exposures and Respiratory Diseases in Cannabis Workers

“…Bioaerosols also vary temporally and spatially and can have complex interactions with other PM, gasses, humidity, and light in the atmospheric environment [21][22][23][24]. Despite these challenges, it is essential to understand bioaerosol size, composition, and abundance, as airborne pathogenic microbes, microbial metabolites, and protein allergens are inhalation hazards associated with a variety of acute and chronic diseases in agricultural and indoor settings that share many aspects with cannabis operations [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…Elevated airborne fungi and bacteria levels in these environments could also contribute to non-pathogenic and allergenic pulmonary diseases within cannabis workers due to respiratory exposures to associated airborne microbial breakdown products, metabolites, and/or allergens, as discussed below [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…In this context, the bioaerosols in cannabis operations are defined as airborne particulate matter comprised in whole or in part of primary biological materials directly associated with all aspects of cannabis operations; these airborne constituents are known to impact worker health in parallel agricultural and manufacturing industries as well as many common indoor environments [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Bioaerosols remain poorly characterized in the cannabis industry, despite increasing reports of cannabis workrelated respiratory diseases linked to bioaerosol exposure [1,14,15].…”