Tulane to study 'Katrina cough'

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Tulane to study 'Katrina cough'

Monday, January 07, 2008

The Times-Picayune - NOLA.com - New Orleans,LA*

By Pope

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-

26/119968690068660.xml & coll=1

Katrina cough: a legitimate new ailment or run-of-the-mill allergy?

That's the question that a five-year Tulane University study is

designed to answer. Led by Henry Glindmeyer, a professor of

pulmonary, critical-care and environmental medicine in Tulane's

medical school, researchers are keeping tabs on the respiratory

health of 1,000 local workers.

The project, which is underwritten by a $1.86 million grant from the

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, consists of

annual follow-ups. During these sessions, each volunteer will answer

a questionnaire, undergo a noninvasive breathing test and wear a

monitor for five or six hours to detect workplace exposure to dust,

bacteria and mold.

This is the first long-term scrutiny of a phenomenon that people

initially linked to residual damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the

ensuing floods and weeks of standing water late in the summer of

2005.

However, a state health-department study in April 2006 of more than

56,000 emergency-room visits did not find an increase in severe

respiratory problems. Slightly more than 1 percent of those visits

were for asthma, and about 7 percent were for respiratory

infections, researchers found.

Those figures, they said, were similar to national data. Moreover,

they said, complaints were more prevalent among smokers and people

with asthma, immune-system problems, allergies and chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease.

Free cleanup training

Free training designed to help people clean up and rebuild after

Hurricane Katrina's devastation will start Jan. 22 at Dillard

University.

Classes will be held from 8:30 to 4:30 p.m. each weekday through

March 29. At the end of the training period, participants will be

certified in construction, hazardous-waste removal, lead and

asbestos abatement, and mold remediation, said Myra , associate

director of Dillard's Deep South Center for Environmental Justice,

which is sponsoring the program.

People who complete the course also will be eligible for state

licenses in lead and asbestos removal.

This will be the 13th year for such training, and it will be the

first at Dillard since Katrina.

Money for it comes from a $1 million grant from the National

Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The Deep South Center is

administering the award, which underwrites similar training in Baton

Rouge, Detroit and Savannah, Ga., said.

More information is available from at (504) 816-4036.