Chest

Chest

Volume 118, Issue 3, September 2000, Pages 852-860
Journal home page for Chest

Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease
Positive Human Health Effects of Wearing a Respirator in a Swine Barn

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.118.3.852Get rights and content

Study objectives

A study was conducted to evaluate theacute health effects of wearing an N-95 disposable respirator in aswine confinement facility.

Design

A crossovertrial design was used in the study.

Setting

Thestudy was carried out at the research facilities of the Centre for, Agricultural Medicine, the Royal University Hospital, and the Prairie Swine Centre Inc, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Participants

Twenty-one nonsmoking healthy male subjectswith no previous swine barn exposure participated in the study.

Interventions

The subjects participated in a laboratorysession (baseline day), a 4-h exposure in a traditional swine roomwearing the respirator (intervention day), and a 4-hour exposure in atraditional swine room without a respirator (nonintervention day).

Measurements

Lung function, methacholine challenge tests, blood counts, nasal lavage, and cytokines in serum and nasal lavagefluid.

Results

Mean (± SE) shiftchange in FEV1, from preexposure to postexposure, washighest on nonintervention day (−8.1 ± 1.01%) and wassignificantly different from intervention day (0.32 ± 0.62%;p < 0.0001) and baseline day (1.57 ± 0.51%; p < 0.0001).Similar patterns were observed in the mean values of the provocativeconcentration of a substance (methacholine) causing a 20% fall in, FEV1 (nonintervention day, 130.4 ± 36.9 mg/mL; intervention day, 242.0 ± 38.0 mg/mL; and baseline day, 328.0 mg/mL±34.1 mg/mL). Significant increases in serum neutrophil levels and nasal cell counts were observed on the nonintervention day incomparison to the baseline and intervention days. Significant increasesalso were found in the levels of cytokines interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8in nasal lavage fluid and in the levels of IL-6 in serum for thenonintervention day in comparison to the other 2 days.

Conclusions

The results demonstrate that an N-95disposable respirator can help to significantly reduce acutenegative health effects in subjects not previously exposed to a swinebarn environment.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

The study was carried out over 12 days in March 1998, at theresearch facilities of the Centre for Agricultural Medicine, the Royal University Hospital, and the Prairie Swine Centre Inc, in Saskatoon,Saskatchewan, Canada. The University of Saskatchewan Advisory Committeeon Ethics in Human Experimentation approved the study protocol and theconsent form.

Demography

All 21 participants were men with a mean age of 22.4 years (SD,0.92 years). The subjects had a mean height of 177.8 cm (SD, 5.54 cm)and a mean weight of 81.1 kg (SD, 11.6 kg).

Dust, Gas, and Endotoxin Concentrations

Mean particle counts and measurements of ammonia and carbondioxide concentrations over the 12-day study period are shown inTable 1. Table 2outlines the results of dust and endotoxin measurements, and personalsampler assessments. These results indicate that no significantdifferences were observed for mean dust and endotoxin

Discussion

These results indicate that the use of well-fit, disposable N-95particulate respirators (with two-straps and metal nose-clips) over a4-h exposure period in a swine confinement facility by naive volunteersvirtually eliminates acute respiratory symptoms, shift changes in, FEV1 and serum IL-6 responses, and nasal lavagefluid IL-6 and IL-8 responses and considerably ameliorates theexposure-related response to inhaled methacholine.

In our study, we detected IL-6 and IL-8 in nasal lavage fluid and

References (40)

  • JE Zejda et al.

    Respiratory health of swine producers: focus on young workers

    Chest

    (1993)
  • C Zhou et al.

    Increased airways responsiveness in swine farmers

    Chest

    (1991)
  • A Senthilselvan et al.

    Accelerated lung function decline in swine confinement workers

    Chest

    (1997)
  • CA Dinarello

    Interleukin-1 antagonism

    Blood

    (1991)
  • KJ Donham et al.

    Respiratory symptoms and lung function among workers in swine confinement buildings: a cross-sectional epidemiological study

    Arch Environ Health

    (1984)
  • JA Dosman et al.

    Respiratory symptoms and alterations in pulmonary function tests in swine producers in Saskatchewan: results of a survey of farmers

    J Occup Med

    (1988)
  • DL Holness et al.

    Respiratory effects and dust exposures in hog confinement farming

    Am J Ind Med

    (1987)
  • P Bongers et al.

    Lung function and respiratory symptoms in pig farmers

    Br J Ind Med

    (1987)
  • KA Larsson et al.

    Swine dust causes intense airways inflammation in healthy subjects

    Am J Respir Crit Care Med

    (1994)
  • KJ Donham et al.

    Acute effects of the work environment on pulmonary functions of swine confinement workers

    Am J Ind Med

    (1984)
  • P Malmberg et al.

    Acute exposure to swine dust causes bronchial hyperresponsiveness in healthy subjects

    Eur Respir J

    (1993)
  • D Heederik et al.

    Across-shift lung function changes among pig farmers

    Am J Ind Med

    (1990)
  • SP Kirychuk et al.

    Predictors of longitudinal changes in pulmonary function among swine confinement workers

    Can Respir J

    (1998)
  • DL Holness et al.

    What actually happens to the farmers? clinical results of a follow-up study of hog confinement workers

  • S Clark et al.

    Airborne bacteria, endotoxin and fungi in dust in poultry and swine confinement buildings

    Am Ind Hyg Assoc J

    (1983)
  • KJ Donham et al.

    Characterization of dusts collected from swine confinement buildings

    Am J Ind Med

    (1986)
  • B Crook et al.

    Airborne dust, ammonia, microorganisms, and antigens in pig confinement houses and the respiratory health of exposed farm workers

    Am J Ind Hyg Assoc

    (1991)
  • P Haglind et al.

    Occupational exposure and lung function measurements among workers in swine confinement buildings

    J Occup Med

    (1987)
  • R Rylander et al.

    Effects of exposure to dust in swine confinement buildings: a working group report

    Scand J Work Environ Health

    (1989)
  • K Donham et al.

    Environmental and health studies of farm workers in Swedish swine confinement buildings

    Br J Ind Med

    (1989)

    • Cited by (0)

    View full text
    Copyright © 2000 The American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.