[Nhcoll-l] Consult U of K MDs on health issues

[Kathryn Makos]

Andy, as an IH familiar with nat hist collections, I would recommend the
following:

1.   Consult the Univ of Kansas Medical Center without delay or additional
self-research: Take your campus EHS reports, your situation descriptions
(don't rule out any factors: let the doctors think about it all), and
yourselves :).  Remember that general MDs/internists are usually not
familiar with the occupational world of nat hist collection mgmt, so explain
what you do and how you do it.  But they will be familiar with zoonotic or
workplace allergens so you just may need to help them connect the dots.  Ask
your EHS contacts if there are occupational or pulmonary specialists they
refer staff to.

2.   If mold is not apparent, then organic allergenic debris may be
associated with your described symptoms.  Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a
broad description of many organic allergenic reactions, which in your
environment could come from the renovation's disturbance and aerosolization
of many items such as detritus/frass and bird/mammal droppings. The one line
about roosting is a red flag.  There was an incident many years ago in which
pigeon and bird debris in a portico caused similar pulmonary reactions to
staff who had to access it.  It had to be deconned by a contractor and the
openings meshed/sealed. Or it could be some other causative factor, so I
really don't want to skew your reporting.  

3.   Bottom line is that, regardless of cause, delicately put: your space
may have a dust/detritus sanitation problem in need of safe cleanup, and
your EHS contacts will be able to help with recommendations possibly
including a contractor to decon the roosting area and seal the openings. 

But circling back to #1: this is a workplace illness problem that is best
diagnosed by physicians (Please see them soon!), and remediated by EHS staff
in collaboration with you and your colleagues.  

Best wishes,
Kathryn Makos, MPH CIH
(ret: Smithsonian Inst)
Research Collaborator, NMNH 


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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2013 19:01:16 +0000
From: "Bentley, Andrew Charles" <abentley at ku.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Collection and curatorial staff health issues
To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Message-ID:
	<A78A1D764F0CAA4C8E45DD449F29FC6A0A866F5C at EXCH10-MBX-01.home.ku.edu>
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Hi all

We have recently had a spate of health issues specifically related to one
area of our building and the staff associated with this area.  The symptoms
are respiratory (tightening of throat and shortness of breath) and skin
related (lesions, rashes etc.) and isolated to this particular area of the
building which houses our bird collections, people space and a library.  We
recently renovated this area which may have disturbed some old underlying
issue in this area.  Our EHS unit on campus has been through and done the
usual mold and VOC testing and results suggest that all levels are below
acceptable levels and guidelines.  There is no smoking gun as it were and we
have initially, tentatively eliminated the above causes.  At this point we
are stumped and were wondering if any similar symptoms have been found or
encountered at any other collection facilities and, more importantly, if
anyone has any ideas as to what could be causing this.  We would be
particularly interested in he  aring from any institution that may have
tested for these and other potential harmful side effects of collections.

The only other factors that we can potentially point to is that we
occasionally get (or used to get) bats and squirrels entering the space and
"roosting" in the ceiling spaces of this area of the building.  We have also
been made aware of a malady called bird breeder's lung or hypersensitivity
pneumonitis (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/indoorenv/mold.html#5) and
wonder if anyone has had issues with this in collection environments -
specifically dry bird collections.

Any help or suggestions would be gladly accepted.

Thanks

Andy

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