Occupational Histoplasmosis: Epidemiology and Prevention Measures

Abstract

In areas where Histoplasma is endemic in the environment, occupations involving activities exposing workers to soil that contains bird or bat droppings may pose a risk for histoplasmosis. Occupational exposures are frequently implicated in histoplasmosis outbreaks. In this paper, we review the literature on occupationally acquired histoplasmosis. We describe the epidemiology, occupational risk factors, and prevention measures according to the hierarchy of controls.

Keywords

• Histoplasmosis
• <i>Histoplasma</i>
• occupational
• workers
• fungal