Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India
Wood processing workers are exposed to wood-associated microbiological contaminants, including fungi. Our aim was to study the potential association between sputum fungus and adverse respiratory effects in such workers. In a group of sawmill workers, we administered a respiratory questionnaire, perf...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Respiratory Society
2015-10-01
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| Series: | ERJ Open Research |
| Online Access: | http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/1/2/00023-2015.full |
| _version_ | 1811342769051926528 |
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| author | Asit Adhikari Subhashis Sahu Arghya Bandyopadhyay Paul D. Blanc Subhabrata Moitra |
| author_facet | Asit Adhikari Subhashis Sahu Arghya Bandyopadhyay Paul D. Blanc Subhabrata Moitra |
| author_sort | Asit Adhikari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wood processing workers are exposed to wood-associated microbiological contaminants, including fungi. Our aim was to study the potential association between sputum fungus and adverse respiratory effects in such workers. In a group of sawmill workers, we administered a respiratory questionnaire, performed lung function testing and quantified the proportions of leukocytes in spontaneously expectorated sputum samples. We identified fungal species by DNA sequencing. Of 54 sawmill workers, 19 yielded fungal positive sputum samples (mean age 42.5±10.4 years) and 35 were negative for fungus (mean age 36.9±5.2 years). The fungus was identified as Candida sp. in all samples. Those with fungal-positive sputum, compared to others, reported more cough (26% versus 63%) and haemoptysis (6% versus 37%) (both p<0.05), manifested reduced forced midexpiratory flow rates (FEF25–75%) (82.3±4.5 versus 69.2±9.9% predicted, p<0.001), and had higher sputum eosinophil counts (median 9.25 versus 3.25%, p<0.01). Reduction of FEF25–75% was associated both with fungus detection in sputum (−12.7%, 95% CI−8.5– −16.9%) and sputum eosinophils (−2.1% per 1% increase in eosinophils, 95% CI −1.5– −2.8%) (both p<0.001). In sawmill workers, Candida sp. detectable in sputum was associated with respiratory symptoms, sputum eosinophilia and reduced FEF25–75%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:17:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6517aebfb0704c7985b61475b0368c29 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2312-0541 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:17:55Z |
| publishDate | 2015-10-01 |
| publisher | European Respiratory Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ERJ Open Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-6517aebfb0704c7985b61475b0368c292022-12-22T02:33:38ZengEuropean Respiratory SocietyERJ Open Research2312-05412015-10-011210.1183/23120541.00023-201500023-2015Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in IndiaAsit Adhikari0Subhashis Sahu1Arghya Bandyopadhyay2Paul D. Blanc3Subhabrata Moitra4 Ergonomics and Occupational Physiology Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India Ergonomics and Occupational Physiology Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, India Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA Molecular Respiratory Research Laboratory, Chest Research Foundation, Pune, India Wood processing workers are exposed to wood-associated microbiological contaminants, including fungi. Our aim was to study the potential association between sputum fungus and adverse respiratory effects in such workers. In a group of sawmill workers, we administered a respiratory questionnaire, performed lung function testing and quantified the proportions of leukocytes in spontaneously expectorated sputum samples. We identified fungal species by DNA sequencing. Of 54 sawmill workers, 19 yielded fungal positive sputum samples (mean age 42.5±10.4 years) and 35 were negative for fungus (mean age 36.9±5.2 years). The fungus was identified as Candida sp. in all samples. Those with fungal-positive sputum, compared to others, reported more cough (26% versus 63%) and haemoptysis (6% versus 37%) (both p<0.05), manifested reduced forced midexpiratory flow rates (FEF25–75%) (82.3±4.5 versus 69.2±9.9% predicted, p<0.001), and had higher sputum eosinophil counts (median 9.25 versus 3.25%, p<0.01). Reduction of FEF25–75% was associated both with fungus detection in sputum (−12.7%, 95% CI−8.5– −16.9%) and sputum eosinophils (−2.1% per 1% increase in eosinophils, 95% CI −1.5– −2.8%) (both p<0.001). In sawmill workers, Candida sp. detectable in sputum was associated with respiratory symptoms, sputum eosinophilia and reduced FEF25–75%.http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/1/2/00023-2015.full |
| spellingShingle | Asit Adhikari Subhashis Sahu Arghya Bandyopadhyay Paul D. Blanc Subhabrata Moitra Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India ERJ Open Research |
| title | Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India |
| title_full | Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India |
| title_fullStr | Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India |
| title_short | Fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in India |
| title_sort | fungal contamination of the respiratory tract and associated respiratory impairment among sawmill workers in india |
| url | http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/1/2/00023-2015.full |
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