Comparison of work-related symptoms and visual contrast sensitivity between employees at a severely water-damaged school and a school without significant water damage

American Journal of Industrial Medicine
Gregory ThomasStephen Vesper

Abstract

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a health hazard evaluation (HHE) of a water-damaged school in New Orleans (NO), Louisiana. Our aim in this evaluation was to document employee health effects related to exposure to the water-damaged school, and to determine if VCS testing could serve as a biomarker of effect for occupants who experienced adverse health effects in a water-damaged building. NIOSH physicians and staff administered a work history and medical questionnaire, conducted visual contrast sensitivity (VCS) testing, and collected sticky-tape, air, and dust samples at the school. Counting, culturing, and/or a DNA-based technology, called mold-specific quantitative PCR (MSQPCR), were also used to quantify the molds. A similar health and environmental evaluation was performed at a comparable school in Cincinnati, Ohio which was not water-damaged. Extensive mold contamination was documented in the water-damaged school and employees (n = 95) had higher prevalences of work-related rashes and nasal, lower respiratory, and constitutional symptoms than those at the comparison school (n = 110). VCS values across all spatial frequencies were lower among employees at the water-damaged school. ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 28, 2016·International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health·Kim A Angelon-GaetzMichelle L Hernandez
Dec 17, 2014·Pediatric Allergy and Immunology : Official Publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology·Stephen VesperFlorence Fulk
Oct 23, 2018·Journal of Agromedicine·Muhammad Idrees KhanCatherine Trask
Jan 18, 2013·Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Andrea SiracusaGianna Moscato

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