Ochratoxin - Is It A Concern As An Airborne Mycotoxin?(by 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.

Ochratoxin - Is It A Concern As An Airborne Mycotoxin?(by Romer Labs, Inc.)

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