[MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Allergen testing

[Tom Kibby]

 My first experience with lab animal allergy (LAA) was my UNC/Duke MPH thesis in 1989 [PMID: 2607382] We were able to semi-quantitatively correlate air monitoring of animal-specific allergens with allergic symptoms. While a reliable exposure level would be great, I think we are still in the same place, namely that greater exposure to lab animals increases risk of LAA. Maybe the best use of air monitoring is like wipe sampling of hazardous drugs: identify the highest exposure areas for focused interventions like improved work practices, ventilation or PPE.Tom Kibbynow at BJC Healthcare


    On Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 07:03:32 AM CDT, Hodgson, Michael - OSHA via MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net> wrote:  Hi, allCc’ed here is Bill Martin, and occupational medicine resident from Duke rotating through OSHA. He recently presented a follow-up survey that he completed with Dr. Stave on the current state of affairs in animal research facilities.  They completed a follow-up survey to what Dr. States had done some years ago. The presentation led to a lengthy discussion on what we know about engineering design and operations and maintenance in animal labs.  And then there's the whole work practices and PPE issue.  Without thinking about those, our discussion went here, "sampling" isn't so useful. People will generally remember that predictors of sensitization, i.e., peak exposures, co-exposures to endotoxin, and the presence of irritants such as ammonia likely all influence "acceptability" of antigen levels.  He and I discussed whether it was possible for this group, or this group overlapping with Phil Harber’s academic safety and health text, to develop some set of categories that everyone could start classifying and using. 
  
  
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