[MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Allergen testing

[hudson.warner at gmail.com]

While at UCLA we did have the campus CIH do a study of the animal lab areas
to see where the highest levels of rat and mouse protein in air were found,
really to guide improvements in use of better practices to reduce said
antigen exposure not to look at the levels as a cutoff although some were at
the old level of well above 5ng/cubic meter by a lot; cage changing and cage
washing areas.   The rest were well below. I understand the 5 ng level is no
longer considered to be a threshold and never had solid data behind it to
begin with; so while lower seems better; there may not be a no sensitizing
level or dose but this was but 10 years ago when we did this study and it
did result in improvements in those areas identified. Warner

-----Original Message-----
From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces at mylist.net> On Behalf Of Swift, Melanie D.,
M.D., M.P.H. via MCOH-EH
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 7:27 AM
To: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
Cc: Swift, Melanie D., M.D., M.P.H. <Swift.Melanie at mayo.edu>
Subject: Re: [MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Allergen testing

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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The MCOH-EH List has always been moderated by members of the ACOEM Medical
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