RESPIRATORY PROTECTION AGAINST BIOAEROSOL IN AGRICULTURE

说明： 农业工人暴露在高浓度的空气中 微生物，因此患呼吸道疾病的风险增加 疾病。如果选择和使用得当，口罩可以减少 农业环境中的暴露。在本研究中，一种新的场兼容 将开发一种方法来动态测量由 农业环境中防尘呼吸器。另一种方法将是 开发用于确定呼吸防护口罩对真菌的保护 和放线菌孢子。新的方法将首先在 在受控条件下使用四种测试气雾剂的实验室：氯化钠、PSL和 真菌和放线菌孢子。实验室测试将使用以下方法进行 三种不同的呼吸流速，三种不同的浓度进行测试 颗粒和三个不同的采样探头位置。在那之后，新的 这些方法将在不同的农业作业期间进行田间测试 而农民正在使用新的N95过滤面罩。 实地评估将在不同的任务期间进行：喂食动物， 播种，收获。与动物饲养有关的测试将在 有两个季节，秋天和冬天，当空气中的浓度 动物禁闭预计将是最显著的不同。田野 测试将包括小规模和大规模的农业作业。这个 拟议的实验室和现场实验的设计将包括 结合传统的耗时的微生物方法和 先进的动态和紧凑型气溶胶测量技术。这种双重方式 结合我们在呼吸器和生物气溶胶研究方面的丰富经验 将使我们能够在最短的时间内收集一个有代表性的数据库 时间到了。结果将包括呼吸保护的动态测量。 作为时间和颗粒大小的函数。将进行现场测试 适用于不同季节的不同农业活动。数据将 提供建议的基础，如果需要，还可为 农业工人免受有机粉尘的呼吸保护。这个 在这项研究中开发和测试的方法是进一步需要的 农业和其他职业的流行病学和干预研究 环境。

DESCRIPTION: Agricultural workers are exposed to high concentrations of airborne microorganisms, and thus have an increased risk for developing respiratory diseases. Respirators, when properly selected and used, can decrease the exposures in agricultural environments. In this study, a new field-compatible method will be developed to dynamically measure the protection provided by respirators against dust in agricultural environments. Another method will be developed to determine the protection provided by respirators against fungal and actinomycete spores. The new methods will be evaluated first in the laboratory under controlled conditions using four test aerosols: NaCl, PSL and fungal and actinomycete spores. The laboratory tests will be conducted using three different respiratory flow rates, three different concentrations for test particles and three different sampling probe locations. After that, the new methods will be tested in the field during different agricultural operations while farmers are using the new N95 filtering facepiece respirators. The field evaluation will be performed during different tasks: feeding animals, seeding, harvesting. Tests related to animal feeding will be performed during two seasons, in the fall and in the winter, when the concentrations in the animal confinements are expected to be most significantly different. The field testing will include both small-scale and large-scale farming operations. The design of the proposed laboratory and field experiments will include a combination of traditional time-consuming microbiological methods and of advanced dynamic and compact aerosol measurement techniques. This dual approach combined with our extensive experience on respirator and bioaerosol studies will allow us to collect a representative data bank in the shortest possible time. The results will include dynamic measurements of respiratory protection as a function of time and particle size. The field testing will be conducted for different agricultural activities in different seasons. The data will provide the basis for recommendations and, if desired, regulations for the respiratory protection of agricultural workers against organic dust. The methods developed and tested in this study are critically needed for further epidemiological and intervention studies in agricultural and other occupational environments.