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Chronic toxic encephalopathies apparently related to exposure to toxigenic fungi
Pierre L. Auger1 M.D., Pierrot Pépin2 H.I., J. David
Miller3 Ph.D., Manfred Gareis4 D.V.M., Ph.D., Julien Doyon5 Ph.D., Rémi
Bouchard5 M.D., Marie-France Pinard6 Ph.D., Claude Mainville6 Ing.
1 CLSC Haute-Ville, Santé au travail, 530 Boul. de l'Atrium,
#101, Charlesbourg, (Québec), Canada, G1H 7H1. 2 CLSC Rivières et Marées,
22, rue St-Laurent, Rivière-du-Loup, (Québec), Canada, G5R 4W5.
3 Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, (Ontario),
Canada, K1A 0C6. 4 Institute for Microbiology and Toxicology, Federal Center
of Meat Research. E.-C.-Baumann-Str 20, D-95326, KUMLBACH, Germany; 5
Département de Psychologie et Centre de Recherche en Neurobiologie,
Université Laval, Québec, Canada,G1K 7P4; 6 Laboratoire VITAL/AIR,
Microbiologie et biochimie, Salubrité des bâtiments(M.F.P.) and
NATUR’AIR-KIWATIN (C.M.) 1264 Sherbrooke
ABSTRACT This
report concerns four cases of neurotoxic encephalopathies possibly caused by
a prolonged exposure to toxin producing filamentous fungi (molds) in the
workplace. We will also demonstrate that complete fungal evaluation with
species identification and complementary cytotoxicity testing can be useful
to identify possible causes of health effects of mold exposures.
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words:
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