[MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Allergen testing

[Swift, Melanie D., M.D., M.P.H.]

Jakub,
Our safety colleagues recently looked into this and did a fairly deep dive. My understanding is that air sampling for animal allergens is really not yet ready for practice, but is more of a research tool at this point. Special equipment is required and there are no standards or norms, so it would be a little like doing air quality testing for mold spores without having an outdoor control or comparison test. You can do particulate sampling as a proxy of sorts, which is more standard and I think there are some reference values for dust levels.

Out of curiosity, who is asking you to do air sampling for allergens? If AAALAC is starting to request this, I'd be concerned about the potential impact of that for other institutions.
Best,
Melanie

-----Original Message-----
From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces at mylist.net> On Behalf Of Jakub Furmaga via MCOH-EH
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 2:30 PM
To: mcoh-eh at mylist.net
Cc: Jakub Furmaga <jfurmaga at me.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [MCOH-EH] Allergen testing

I work at a large academic medical center that has several animal research labs. We were recently asked to do allergen air testing/monitoring, and wanted to see if anyone here has experience with this. If so, which allergens do you test and what concentrations do you use. Thank you. 

Jakub

Jakub Furmaga, MD
Faculty in Medical Toxicology 
Medical Director of Occupational Health
UT Southwestern


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