The primary objective of this study was to critically review published literature related to studies of airborne microorganisms or their constituent parts (bioaerosols) associated with organic waste composting facilities, and to establish whether there is a risk to worker health from the inhalation of these bioaerosols. The review aimed to identify the personnel at risk on compost sites, identi...

We describe an outbreak of sudden health problems in workers at a Danish grass seed plant after exposure to a particularly dusty lot of grass seeds. The seeds are called problematic seeds. The association between development of organic dust toxic syndrome (ODTS) and the handling of grass seeds causing exposure was assessed in a four-step model: (i) identification of exposure source, (ii) charac...

Biological particulate matter (BioPM) is a poorly constrained, ubiquitous, and diverse subset of atmospheric aerosols. They influence climate, air quality, health via many mechanisms, spurring renewed interest in constraining their emissions to elucidate impacts. In order build the framework required assess role BioPM these multidisciplinary areas, it necessary develop robust, high time-resolut...

Research on bioaerosols has experienced, and continues to experience, stellar growth. This is evident in the rocketing number of scientific articles published during recent years (double the number in 2013 compared to 2003 based on keywords on Web of Science and about 10% of the articles in the last volume of Annals of Occupational Hygiene). This outbreak of research is due, among others, to (i...

OBJECTIVES To date, the scientific source materials usually focus on microbial contamination of the museum or library collections themselves, while the exposure of persons who professionally deal with this type of objects in cultural heritage conservation laboratories is ignored. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was carried out in 9 naturally ventilated conservation laboratories with no history...

A variety of respirator filters and surgical masks were challenged with three aerosolized bacteria: Mycobacterium abscessus (M.a.) (a rod), Staphylococcus epidermidis (S.e.) (a sphere), and Bacillus subtilis (B.s.) (a rod). Tests were conducted at two flow rates (45 and 85 l./min) and two humidity levels (30 and 70%). Aerosols were measured with a total-particle, direct-reading, spectrometer an...

Louis Pasteur described the first measurements of airborne microorganisms in 1861. A century later, the inhalation of spores from thermophilic microorganisms was shown to induce attacks of farmers' lung in patients with this disease, while endotoxins originating from Gram-negative bacteria were identified as causal agents for byssinosis in cotton workers. Further epidemiological and toxicologic...