Outbreak of hypersensitivity pneumonitis in an industrial setting.
Symptoms consistent with hypersensitivity pneumonitis developed in several workers in two multistory buildings in an industrial complex. A health questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the extent of the problem. Eighty-seven percent of the population of 1050 employees completed the health questionnaire. Serological testing identified 152 positive precipitin reactors to the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans; 115 reactors were symptomatic. The clinical and laboratory features at the time of the acute illness and during four years of follow-up are described. The agent, A pullulans, was identified as a contaminant of the heating-cooling ventilation units containing open waterspray chambers. Control was accomplished by replacement of the ventilation systems. A secondary source of antigen was found to be corrugated cardboard. Some sensitized employees required removal from work exposure to corrugated cardboard to prevent recurrent symptoms.
Woodard
E D
ED
Medical Department, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY.
Friedlander
B
B
Lesher
R J
RJ
Font
W
W
Kinsey
R
R
Hearne
F T
FT
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000391:Air Microbiology; D000542:Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D003904:Mitosporic Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D014691:Ventilation