Category: Respiratory Health

Powerful New Videos Encourage Those Who Qualify to Seek Care through the World Trade Center Health Program

Though the September 11th attacks were over a decade ago, thousands of people who were in the affected areas continue to experience physical and mental health symptoms as a result of their experience in the days, months, and even years following 9/11. They may not recognize that some cancers, a chronic cough, difficulty sleeping, or Read More >

Posted on by Melissa Van Orman, MA25 Comments

Happy N95 Day! A Guide to N95 Resources

  Welcome to year two of this NIOSH-approved observance, marking N95 day as an official annual event. (We debated about decorating our offices with N95s – but that seemed a tad wasteful). To those who missed the memo last year, let us update you. Because N95 respirators are so important to the health and safety Read More >

Posted on by Jaclyn Krah, MA 13 Comments

Contractors Wanted: Help NIOSH Advance Research to Protect Workers from Silica

Are you a contractor whose company has at least three years of field experience cutting fiber cement siding with a circular saw? Has your company installed fiber cement siding on at least three large residential jobs? Do you have an upcoming job where fiber cement siding will be cut and installed for at least eight Read More >

Posted on by Chaolong Qi, PhD15 Comments

Lung Cancer Screening in the Occupational Setting – An Update

  Last year we posted two blogs on the use of computerized tomography (CT) scans of the chest for lung cancer screening — Helical CT Scans and Lung Cancer Screening1  and Low-dose CT Scans and Lung Cancer Screening in the Occupational Setting.2   Since the postings, various organizations have provided guidance with differing implications for early detection Read More >

Posted on by Simone Tramma, MD, MS; Eileen Storey, MD, MPH; David Weissman, MD 3 Comments

Wildland Fire Fighting Safety and Health

Wildland fires continue to increase in the Western United States as hot, dry and windy conditions persist, resulting in an extended fire season and factors conducive to fires. Currently, drought conditions are prevalent in the West due to low snow-pack levels, below average rainfall, record setting temperatures and high winds, resulting in a greater than Read More >

Posted on by Corey Campbell and Liz Dalsey 29 Comments

Worker Exposure to Crystalline Silica During Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”  is the process of injecting large volumes of water, sand, and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to break up shale formation allowing more efficient recovery of oil and gas.  This form of well stimulation has been used since the late 1940s, but has increased substantially over the last 10 Read More >

Posted on by Eric Esswein, MSPH; Max Kiefer, MS; John Snawder, PhD; and Michael Breitenstein, BS 27 Comments

Respiratory Protection for Workers Handling Engineered Nanoparticles

Are current NIOSH-approved respirators protective against engineered nanoparticles? Find out and read about current research and recommendations for the use and selection of respirators against engineered nanoparticles on the NIOSH Science Blog.  Read More >

Posted on by Ziqing Zhuang, PhD, and Dennis Viscusi36 Comments

Erionite: An Emerging North American Hazard

Recent cases of lung disease suggest that erionite, a naturally-occurring fibrous mineral with health effects similar to asbestos, may pose a greater threat to workers than previously realized. Read more about erionite and how to prevent exposure in at-risk occupations such as road construction and maintenance work in areas where erionite-containing gravel or soil is present. Read More >

Posted on by David Weissman, MD, and Max Kiefer, MS, CIH41 Comments

Map: Occurrences of Erionite

From Sheppard R. Occurrences of erionite in sedimentary rocks of the western United States. Denver, CO: US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey; 1996. Open File Report 96–018. Read More >

Posted on by Administrator

The Continuing Persistence of Silicosis

Silica is the most abundant compound in the earth's crust. Inhalation of crystalline silica is the only cause of silicosis, a preventable but incurable type of lung fibrosis. Inhalation has also been associated with lung cancer, tuberculosis, COPD and other conditions.  Read More >

Posted on by David Weissman, MD, and Paul Schulte, PhD25 Comments

Low-dose CT Scans and Lung Cancer Screening in the Occupational Setting

Lung cancer mortality is high and better survival prognosis for early stage cases makes early detection an appealing public health strategy. For years studies have been conducted to find an effective screening method; the NLST is the first randomized trial to show a significant reduction in mortality from lung cancer with low-dose CT screening.  Read More >

Posted on by Simone Tramma, MD, MS; Eileen Storey, MD, MPH; Douglas B. Trout, MD, MHS; Marie Haring Sweeney, PhD, MPH11 Comments

Pleuropulmonary disease in a polyacrylate facility

Recent reports from India implicate dusts created by grinding polyacrylate polymer as an emerging occupational respiratory hazard causing interstitial lung disease and pneumothorax.  Read More >

Posted on by Vladimir Murashov, PhD, Charles L Geraci, PhD, and David Weissman, MD4 Comments

Helical CT Scans and Lung Cancer Screening

New research has revealed that a relatively new form of screening using helical computerized tomography (CT) may result in fewer lung cancer deaths. This finding is of interest to the occupational safety and health community to potentially improve cancer screening among workers with increased risk for lung cancer because of past occupational exposures. Read More >

Posted on by Simone Tramma, MD, MS; Eileen Storey, MD, MPH; Douglas B. Trout, MD, MHS; Marie Haring Sweeney, PhD, MPH4 Comments

Warning: Surgeon General Finds that Cigarette Smoking Is Even More Dangerous to Your Health

Yesterday, the Surgeon General issued the 30th Surgeon General's Report on the dangers of smoking tobacco. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and is responsible for 443,000 deaths each year. Tobacco use can increase risk of illness for those exposed to carcinogens in the workplace and second-hand smoke can place non-smoking workers at risk for smoking-related diseases. Read More >

Posted on by John Howard, MD, David Weissman, MD, Casey Chosewood, MD34 CommentsTags

SPIROLA: A Solution for More Effective Use

While mortality rates for most chronic illnesses (heart disease, malignancy, stroke) have declined in the U.S., mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has increased over the past 3 decades. Most cases of obstructive or restrictive respiratory diseases are preventable. Periodic spirometry can provide a valuable tool for early recognition and prevention of respiratory diseases and for maintaining workers' respiratory health and general fitness. Read More >

Posted on by Eva Hnizdo, PhD, and Lu-Ann Beeckman-Wagner, PhD9 Comments

N95 Respirators and Surgical Masks

The emergence of H1N1 has created considerable interest about the use of surgical masks and respirators as infection control measures. Given the recent issuance of revised CDC infection control guidance for healthcare personnel that include recommendations for use of N95 respirators, NIOSH has posted a new blog that examines the scientific principles behind the design and performance of these devices. Read More >

Posted on by Lisa Brosseau, ScD, and Roland Berry Ann163 CommentsTags

Respiratory Protection for Terrorist Threats and Other Emergencies

This September 11th marks eight years since the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center. Since then, NIOSH has developed a systematic approach to identify the hazards that responders would face, assess the capabilities of existing respiratory protection equipment to provide protection against viable threats using benchmark testing, and set certification standards that stretch the capabilities of the protective technologies to enhance the protection offered to responders during CBRN events. Read More >

Posted on by Jonathan V. Szalajda, MS3 Comments

Secondhand Smoke and Casino Dealers

Simply working in a casino does not mean dealers must gamble with their health. Results of new research conducted by NIOSH on secondhand smoke—the exposure of non-smokers to tobacco smoke—confirm that dealers at the casinos investigated were exposed to secondhand smoke. Read More >

Posted on by Christine West, RN, MSH, MPH54 CommentsTags

Using Digital Chest Images to Monitor the Health of Coal Miners and Other Workers

Conventional screen-film chest radiographic imaging has been an indispensable tool for monitoring the lung health of miners and other dust-exposed workers. Over the next decade, conventional film-based radiography will be completely replaced by digital radiography systems in the United States and elsewhere.  Read More >

Posted on by Michael Attfield, PhD, and David Weissman, MD15 CommentsTags

Diacetyl and Food Flavorings

Commercial flavorings used in the food service industry are often complex mixtures of flavoring chemicals, many of which are volatile, meaning that they evaporate into the air from their liquid or solid form. Diacetyl is a prominent chemical ingredient in butter flavorings and is a component of the vapors coming from these and other flavorings. Inhalation of butter flavoring chemical mixtures, including diacetyl, has been associated with severe obstructive lung disease popularly know as "popcorn lung." Read More >

Posted on by Lauralynn Taylor McKernan, ScD, CIH; Kevin Dunn, MSEE, CIH; Kathleen Kreiss, MD; David N. Weissman, MD 35 Comments