{"id":963,"date":"2011-07-17T20:59:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-17T10:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=963"},"modified":"2024-10-11T15:48:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T05:48:17","slug":"flood-silt-and-respiratory-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=963","title":{"rendered":"Flood silt and respiratory protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our locall free newspaper (City South News<\/strong>, Wednesday July 23 2011) had an article on the front page showing a young girl helping clean up the South’s Cricket Ground after the floods earlier this year. This is a scan of part of the front page, with the face mask enlarged and inset to show the fit.<\/p>\n

\"FloodThere is no way that the face mask could seal against the wearer’s face. It’s and adult mask and far too large for a start, so any protection against respirable dust from the silt would be minimal.<\/p>\n

Queensland University of Technology has a program “Flood study to examine health effects of mould and mud<\/a>” [February 2011] lead by Professor Lidia Morawska<\/strong>, who has a great indoor air quality laboratory.She notes<\/p>\n

“mould and dust from waterlogged materials and silt and organic debris in flood-affected areas could impact on residents’ respiratory health, with the greatest effect typically seen in children<\/strong> and asthmatics”.<\/em><\/p>\n

The child in the photo would have to be exposed to dust from the silt – and perhaps more so than the adult as she is closer to the ground.<\/p>\n

I don’t know what the microbiological risk is, but it appears few cases of respiratory illness have been reported, though I suspect there would be gross under-reporting. There have been at least\u00a0three cases\u00a0 of leptospirosis from the Queensland Floods.<\/p>\n

The sister newspaper City North News<\/strong> reported [January 19 2011] “be alert of the health issues associated with the flood event<\/em>” but does not seem aware of the issue of toxic dust from the silt. The sister paper City North News reported “… the thick, toxic sludge covering its Tennyson<\/em> [adjoining suburb] fields. E. coli has been detected in the muck, leaving the grounds unusable…<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

There seems to be an amnesia between what is reported one week and and the next.<\/p>\n

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Local newspapers report the silt from from the Queensland Floods is toxic, but fail to recognise a child is wearing inappropriate respiratory protection on a front page story while shovelling dried silt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,139,20,56],"tags":[196,199,198,200,197,195],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-infection-control","category-local","category-occupational-hygiene","category-toxicology","tag-brisbane-floods","tag-city-north-news","tag-city-south-news","tag-qut","tag-risk","tag-rpe","czr-hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t