Worker’s nasal swab: A tool for occupational exposure assessment to bioburden?

Viegas, Carla; Santos, Valéria; Moreira, Raúl E. Somma; Faria, Tiago; Ribeiro, Edna; Caetano, Liliana Aranha; Viegas, Susana

doi:10.1201/9781315164809-52

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The nose cavity is the primary entry point for inhaled air and, consequently, the first region of the respiratory tract in contact with airborne fungi, among other occupational risk factors (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27). In this context, the use of the nasal swab procedure for sampling is of utmost importance since it allows fungal detection in the nasal cavity, being an easy and painless collection method that can be performed everywhere with no need for additional equipment (22,25).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portuguese cork industry: filling the knowledge gap regarding occupational exposure to fungi and related health effects

Viegas,

Dias,

Pacífico

et al. 2024

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionThe presence of the Penicillium section Aspergilloides (formerly known as Penicillium glabrum) in the cork industry involves the risk of respiratory diseases such as suberosis.MethodsThe aim of this study was to corroborate the predominant fungi present in this occupational environment by performing a mycological analysis of 360 workers’ nasal exudates collected by nasal swabs. Additionally, evaluation of respiratory disorders among the cork workers was also performed by spirometry.ResultsPenicillium section Aspergilloides was detected by qPCR in 37 out of the 360 nasal swabs collected from workers’ samples. From those, 25 remained negative for Penicillium sp. when using culture-based methods. A significant association was found between ventilatory defects and years of work in the cork industry, with those people working for 10 or more years in this industry having an approximately two-fold increased risk of having ventilatory defects compared to those working less time in this setting. Among the workers who detected the presence of Penicillium section Aspergilloides, those with symptoms presented slightly higher average values of CFU.DiscussionOverall, the results obtained in this study show that working in the cork industry may have adverse effects on worker’s respiratory health. Nevertheless, more studies are needed (e.g., using serological assays) to clarify the impact of each risk factor (fungi and dust) on disease etiology.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portuguese cork industry: filling the knowledge gap regarding occupational exposure to fungi and related health effects

Viegas,

Dias,

Pacífico

et al. 2024

Front. Public Health

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“…One of the promising methods that may help to achieve this goal is checking the upper respiratory tract for actual bacterial colonization using nasal swab [ 4 ]. The simplicity of such testing and the possibility to employ multidirectional analysis of the collected biological material make this method more and more prevalent in the assessment of workers’ exposure to bioaerosols [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Across-Shift Changes in Viable Nasal Bacteria among Waste-Incineration Plant Workers—A Pilot Study

Cyprowski

Ławniczek-Wałczyk

Stobnicka-Kupiec

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The aim of this pilot study was to assess the time-related changes in viable nasal bacteria concentrations among waste-incineration plant (WIP) workers compared to a group of office building (OB) workers outside the plant. In total, 20 volunteers participated in the study, including 14 WIP and 6 OB workers. WIP workers were divided into two sub-groups: supervisory staff (SVS) and maintenance and repair workers (MRW). Nasal swabs were collected before and after the morning work shift. Airborne bacteria were sampled with a six-stage impactor to assess the bioaerosol size distribution. The analysis showed that a significant, almost three-fold increase in nasal bacterial concentration was found only among WIP workers, and this referred mainly to anaerobic species. The load of anaerobic bacteria at the beginning of work was 12,988 CFU/mL, and after work shift 36,979 CFU/mL (p < 0.01). Significant increases in microbial concentrations was found only in the MRW subgroup, among non-smoking workers only. The results showed increased bacterial concentration in WIP nasal samples for as many as 12 bacterial species, including, e.g., Streptococcus constellatus, Peptostreptococcus spp., E. coli, and P. mirabilis. These preliminary data confirmed that the nasal swab method was helpful for assessment of the workers’ real-time exposure to airborne bacteria.

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Worker’s nasal swab: A tool for occupational exposure assessment to bioburden?

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

Portuguese cork industry: filling the knowledge gap regarding occupational exposure to fungi and related health effects

Portuguese cork industry: filling the knowledge gap regarding occupational exposure to fungi and related health effects

Across-Shift Changes in Viable Nasal Bacteria among Waste-Incineration Plant Workers—A Pilot Study

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