  (1 Sent)
Who saw this article? New!
Author: John L. Richard, Ph.D - Romer Labs®, Inc.
There are numerous reports of the occurrence of ochratoxin in blood, urine and
mother's milk in several countries throughout the world. In some of these cases
an assessment of the foods, likely contaminated with ochratoxin, consumed by the
individuals did not account for the levels of ochratoxin found in the body fluids
or tissue. Problematic in these situations is that ochratoxin perhaps occurs at
quite low levels in a wide variety of food including raisins, coffee, sorghum,
wheat-to name just a few. Also, ochratoxin has a considerably lengthy half-life
in the blood and other tissues and accumulation could eventually then arrive at
detectable levels in the blood. However, another potential source of ochratoxin
may not be derived from the food at all but the potential could exist for exposure
to airborne levels of this mycotoxin.
DiPaolo and colleagues (1993) reported that when they housed rabbits in a cage
above a plenum containing wheat contaminated with Aspergillus ochraceus (an ochratoxin
producing fungus), the rabbits eventually developed renal failure. Incidentally,
the wheat used in this study was from a bin in which a farmer and his wife had
become ill after they had been moving this grain by hand. Renal failure is typical
of this mycotoxin and is one of the most likely suspects in an endemic disease
in the Balkan States known as Balkan Endemic Nephropathy. In this situation tumors
are often involved in the disease process. Ochratoxin is carcinogenic but not
at a level like that of aflatoxins.
Intriguing aspects of this airborne potential for exposure to ochratoxin was the
case we reported involving the finding of high levels (above 1500 ppb) of ochratoxin
in the dust from furnace ducts from a house where illnesses had been reported
of the residents and their pets. Although many aspects of the illnesses were similar
to what has been observed in experimental studies with ochratoxin, especially
in pets, we did not attempt to prove a cause-effect relationship in this situation.
No real source for the ochratoxin was found in this house but the dust contained
conidia of fungi potentially capable of ochratoxin production. Subsequent to these
findings Skaug and colleagues (2000) found ochratoxin in dust from cow barns in
Norway and they were able to make an assessment of the levels of the mycotoxin
in the conidia from fungi isolated from these barns. Also, we have found ochratoxin
in dust obtained from carpet sweepings from three different homes. However, in
these three homes the levels of ochratoxin were much lower (6-12 ppb) than in
the house described above.
It is known that ochratoxin is efficiently absorbed from the respiratory epithelium
and with the evidence presented to date, one must be concerned with ochratoxin
being a potential airborne hazard. With this in mind, Iavicoli and coworkers (2002)
found that workers exposed to dust shown to contain measurable ochratoxin A in
three different industries (coffee, cocoa beans and spices) had measurable levels
of ochratoxin A in their serum (0.94 to 3.28 ng/mL compared to controls of 0.03
to 0.95 ng/mL) collected at the end of their work shift. This further suggests
that occupational aerosol exposure to ochratoxin may also be involved as a health
risk to individuals.
References:
Di Paolo, N, Guarnieri, A, Loi, F, Sacchi, G, Mangiarotti, AM, DiPaolo, M.
(1993). Acute renal failure from inhalation of mycotoxins. Nephron, 64: 621-625.
Iavicoli, I, Brera, C, Carelli, G, Caputi, R, Marinaccio, A, Miraglia, M. (2002).
External and internal dose in subjects occupationally exposed to ochratoxin. Int.
Archives of Occupational and Environ. Health. 75: 381-386.
Richard, JL, Plattner, RD, May, J, Liska, SL. (1999). The occurrence of ochratoxin
A in dust collected from a problem household. Mycopathologia 146: 99-103.
Skaug, MA, Eduard, W, Stormer, FC. (2000). Ochratoxin A in airborne dust and
fungal conidia. Mycopathologia, 151: 93-98.
Author: John L. Richard, Ph.D - Romer Labs®, Inc.
(1 Sent)
Who saw this article? New!
MAKE A COMMENT ABOUT THIS ISSUE.
 
|
Technical Articles
