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Dust entry

Ampicillin dust

Airborne ampicillin and related synthetic-penicillin dust generated in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Airborne form

dust

The form describes what is suspended in air at the point of exposure. A material can produce more than one form, such as dust during handling and fume during heating.

Health effects

skin irritationupper-respiratory irritationeye irritationimmunologic sensitization concernantipenicillin antibodies

Evidence

A NIOSH study of 169 workers in a synthetic-penicillin factory measured airborne penicillin and ampicillin and grouped workers by workplace dust levels; the highest group had 10.0–263.0 mg/m3 ampicillin dust. The most frequent complaints were skin, upper-respiratory-tract, and eye irritation. Hemagglutinating antipenicillin antibodies were detected in 73 of 169 employees, and antibody presence was significantly related to symptom presence; the report did not establish a simple dust-concentration relationship for every immunologic result.

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Abstract · 1
The most frequent worker complaints included skin, upper respiratory tract, and eye irritation. ... Hemagglutinizing antipenicillin antibodies were detected in the sera of 73 of 169 employees tested. There was a significant relationship between presence or absence of antibody and presence or absence of symptomatology.

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