FIELD RESEARCH HAZARDS

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FIELD RESEARCH HAZARDS

• 2009

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Charles Easterberg Public Health
Advisor Environmental Health Safety Lecturer,
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
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FIELD RESEARCH HAZARDS

• Rabies
• West Nile Virus
• Hantavirus
• Plague
• Ticks
• Stinging insects

• Waterborne Disease
• Foodborne Disease
• Toxic Plants
• Biting bugs
• Snakes
• Things that go bump in the night

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GOAL

• JES GIT YER DATA
• JES GIT DONE
• AND GIT HOME SAFELY!!

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Research Emergencies

• PREVENT THEM!
• First aid standard? mountaineering?
• Red Cross www.seattleredcross.org
• Seattle Mountaineers www.mountaineers.org

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Field Research Problem Groups

• Bad decisions
• Bad wheels
• Bad
• terrain
• geography
• weather

• Bad feed
• Bad water
• Bad animals bugs
• Bad plants

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Transportation

• Safe vehicle
• All-point safety inspection
• Well-rested drivers
• Current licenses
• Good maps
• No drinking, drugs
• Communication with home base

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WEATHER CLIMATE

• Hypothermia
• Heat exhaustion
• Heat stroke
• Lightning

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Geography Terrain

• Heat cold extremes
• Geologic features
• Abandoned mine shafts
• Quicksand
• Cliffs
• Avalanches
• Waves tides

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Quicksand
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Collapsed Mine Vent Shaft
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BAD FEED

• Stomach flu (norovirus)
• Hepatitis A
• Spoilage
• Salmonella
• Campylobacter
• Etc., etc., etc.

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CAMP FOOD SAFETY

• Wash hands after pottying
• Wash hands before handling food utensils
• Keep perishable food hot (gt140) or cold (lt41)
• Cook foods to 165F
• Dont cross contaminate cooked foods with raw
  foods/juices
• Dont use leftover proteinaceous foods
• Prevent animal access (deer mice, bears)

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HEPATITIS A
TRANSMISSION Drinking untreated water
Unclean hands preparing food SYMPTOMS fatigue
fever cramps, nausea vomiting
chalky stools sometimes yellow skin
eyes ? Most people NEVER show symptoms but
CAN SPREAD virus
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HEPATITIS A PREVENTION

• Treat drinking water
• Wash hands after going potty
• Wash hands before handling food
• Avoid bare hand - food contact
• Get pre-exposure vaccination (2 shots)
• Get Ig shot if exposure suspected

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WATERBORNE DISEASES

• HEPATITIS A
• CRYPTOSPORIDIUM
• GIARDIA
• LEPTOSPIROSIS
• TYPHOID FEVER
• CHOLERA

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WATERBORNE PARASITES

• GIARDIA
• CRYPTOSPORIDIUM
• CYCLOSPORA

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WATERBORNE PARASITES
Reservoir wild animals, livestock,
humans Symptoms diarrhea, stomach cramps,
bloating, gas, fatigue nausea/vomiting.
Can last weeks to months. Onset 2-14 days
after ingestion
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PREVENTING WATERBORNE DISEASES

• Safe-source or treat all drinking water
• Boil
• Filter
• Add chemicals iodine, chlorine
• Wash fruit veggies in clean water

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WATER FILTERS AND PURIFIERS

• ACTIVATED CHARCOAL
• Eliminate organic chemicals

• PARTICULATE FILTERS
• Eliminate protozoa and bacteria

• PURIFIERS
• Eliminate viruses

? COMBINATION
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WATER FILTERS AND PURIFIERS
CONSIDERATIONS

• Level of elimination
• Output
• Weight

• Field Cleanable?
• Filter construction
• Cost

www.rei.com and www.backcountry-equipment.com are
informative sites with product specifications and
comparisons.
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VECTORBORNE DISEASES
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DEFINITIONS
ZOONOSIS a disease of animals (transmissible
to humans) VECTOR insect or animal capable of
transmitting a disease from any organism
to a human VEHICLE inanimate object which
transports disease organisms
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RESERVOIR
AGENT
VECTOR
DISEASE
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A GOOD VECTOR MUST

• harbor the agent
• ? spread the agent (is mobile)
• ? tolerate environmental extremes and survive
  long enough to
• ?Reproduce
• ?Disseminate agent

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RABIES
AGENT Rabies virus RESERVOIR MAMMALS (usually
bats) VECTOR suspect any mammal Washington
BATS NA raccoon, skunk, fox, bats Third World
all canids, esp. dogs any mammal
(monkeys)
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Bats are the only KNOWN rabies reservoir in
Washington State (today!)
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RABIES SPREAD

• found in rabid animals saliva
• spread to humans by animal
• bites
• scratches
• inhalation
• potential spread through mucous membrane contact

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RABIES SYMPTOMS

• Lethality 99.999
• 2 - 8 weeks (7 years) after exposure
• headache, fever, sometimes pain at bite site
• agitation, confusion
• difficulty swallowing fear of liquids
• discomfort from light, noise paralysis
• death within a few days to 1 week

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RABIES PREVENTION
Discuss plans with Travel Clinic and get
pre-exposure vaccination IF ? doing research on
potentially rabid animals, e.g., bats ? planning
to be more than 30 days in an area of the world
where rabies is endemic
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RABIES PREVENTION

• Also
• Minimize wild animal handling, especially bats
• Use PPE appropriate to animal in question
• Do not make wild animals pets

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RABIES PREVENTION

• Exclude bats from your living space
• If a bat found where people sleeping
• ? assume exposure
• ? seek prompt medical consultation

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RABIES PREVENTION

• IF BITTEN or SCRATCHED BY ANIMAL
• clean wound thoroughly with soap and water
• capture animal only if safely possible, AND
• contact a doctor and
• explain encounter with animal
• determine potential for rabies exposure
• determine need for treatment
• REPORT incident to UW official

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Deer mouse
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HANTAVIRUS
AGENT Sin Nombre virus 3 others DISEASE
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) RESERVOIR ?
deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) ?12-15 HV
positive in WA ? cotton rat in SE US VEHICLE
dust, urine crystals fecal material
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HANTAVIRUS EXPOSURE

• shed through deer mouse urine, saliva, and
  droppings
• can occur from breathing dust while
• cleaning rodent droppings anywhere
• living or working in mouse-infested places
• disturbing deer mouse nests
• stealing piñon nuts from mouse nests

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HANTAVIRUS SYMPTOMS

• Lethality 60
• Onset 1 3 weeks after exposure
• Symptoms flu-like
• Stage 1 fever, chills, severe muscle aches,
  nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain
• Stage 2 abrupt onset of respiratory distress
  rapid breathing, gasping, drowning

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HANTAVIRUS PREVENTION

• Exclude rodents from human spaces, tents!
• Remove food scraps and harborage from inside and
  around your living area
• Avoid contact with rodents ?
• Air out mousy structures before entry, AND
• Disinfect with 10 bleach water solution then
  clean up

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Air out and disinfect structures before entering
and cleaning
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PLAGUE
Agent Yersinia pestis Disease Bubonic,
Septicemic, Pneumonic Reservoir burrowing
rodents rock and ground squirrels, prairie
dogs, black rats, etc. Vector FLEAS, esp.
oriental rat flea Vehicle respiratory droplets
from pets and humans with pneumonic plague
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Plague buboes
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PLAGUE PREVENTION

• Avoid flea bites
• Repellents (DEET, permethrin)
• Protective clothing
• Notice fleas getting on you
• Be prepared to kill fleas
• Possible pre-trip vaccine (rare cases)
• Preventive antibiotic therapy

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CRITTERS
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AVOID

• All organisms with the following species names
• horribilis/horridum
• vexans/irritans
• infestans
• toxifolia/toxicodendron
• etc

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CARNIVORES

• BEARS
• Black (blond, too)
• Brown
• Grizzly
• Polar
• COUGARS
• CANIDS coyote, wolf, fox, hyena, dingo
• GATORS, CROCS

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Black Bear
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BEARS

• Assume their presence
• AVOID encounters
• See it before it sees you
• Be alert for cubs
• Watch for odd plant movement
• Make noise to prevent surprises

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BEARS

• People food
• Dont smell like food!
• Avoid odorous foods
• Dont keep food in tent
• Wash face and hands after eating
• Hang food far away from tent

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BEARS

• Dont make eye contact
• Back away rapidly give it space
• Black dont play dead
• Grizzly play dead if no escape

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GRIZZLY BEAR
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MOUNTAIN LION (COUGAR)
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MOUNTAIN LION
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KEEPIN FROM BEIN EATEN

• Same rules as for bears EXCEPT
• FACE them dont run
• Speak forcefully
• Make it clear YOU are the boss
• Look as large as possible
• Advance on them if necessary

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CROCODILE
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SKUNKS (pole-, phoby-cats)
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VENOMOUS CRITTERS

• Snakes rattlers, coral, copperhead, water
  moccasin
• Yellow jackets, hornets, wasps
• Killer bees
• Scorpions
• Spiders

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WESTERN RATTLESNAKE
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COPPERHEAD
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WESTERN MILK SNAKERed and black, friend of Jack
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WESTERN CORAL SNAKERed and yellow, poisonous
fellow
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Water Moccasin (cottonmouth)
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Cottonmouth Swimming
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JELLYFISH
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Box Jellyfish
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BAD BUGS

• MOSQUITOES
• VENOMOUS INSECTS
• TICKS
• FLEAS
• FLIES

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MOSQUITO
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MOSQUITO

• Vector for
• Malaria
• Yellow fever
• West Nile Virus
• Several encephalitides
• Dengue fever

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West Nile Virus

• Reservoir any bird horses, others
• Vector MOSQUITO spp.
• Inhalation sprayed droplets
• Cuts, punctures
• Bird specimens, etc.

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West Nile Virus Activity 2008
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West Nile Virus Prevention

• Avoid mosquito-infested areas ?
• Liberal use of repellents with DEET or
  picaridin
• Keep mosquitoes out of sleeping space
• Wear anti-mosquito clothing
• Avoid mosquito feeding times
• Avoid cuts and punctures

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Watch what you eat!
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Bees killer or honeybees?
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KILLER BEES

• Vigorously attack intruders swarm them

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2009 Killer Bee Range-West
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2009 Killer Bee Range-East
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Sting Prevention

• Enquire locally of bees presence
• Be aware of insect activity around you
• Watch for flight paths to/from nests
• Wear light-colored clothing
• Avoid shiny jewelry
• Avoid citrus and floral-smelling perfumes
• Cover head and face when escaping
• Dont try escape under water

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Fire Ant
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Fire Ant Mounds
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Fire Ant Quarantine
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FIRE ANT STINGS
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Fire Ant Stings
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TICKBORNE DISEASES

• Lyme disease
• Tularemia (rabbit fever)
• Relapsing fever
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, etc.
• THE OTHERSsame way

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Brown Dog Tick
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• Hard tick on grass blade
• Typical behavior of hard tick waiting for
  host

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LYME DISEASE
AGENT spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi RESERVOIR
wild rodents (deer mouse all squirrels
prairie dogs other burrowing rodents)
deer VECTOR NYMPHAL Ixodes spp. deer
tick very tiny ?
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LYME DISEASE RISK
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LYME DISEASE SYMPTOMS

• Early symptoms
• Appear within 5 to 30 days of tick bite
• Bulls eye expanding rash may appear a few days
  to several weeks after bite
• Fatigue
• Fever and chills
• Migratory muscle and joint pain

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LYME DISEASE SYMPTOMS

• Later symptoms
• appear months or years after initial infection
• arthritis, pain and swelling especially in the
  knees
• nervous system abnormalities
  partial facial paralysis
• meningitis
• irregular heartbeat

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LYME DISEASE PREVENTION

• tick control remove brush, tall grass, leaves
  around houses, yards and tents
• protect yourself from tick bites
• long, light-colored clothing
• tuck pant legs into socks
• avoid contact with tall grass and brush
• use tick repellent
• detect, remove ticks rapidly

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TULAREMIA (Rabbit Fever)

• Agent bacterium Francisella tularensis
• Vector tick, deerfly, mosquito
• Symptoms
• characteristic ulcer at infection site
• swollen lymph glands
• severe fever and flu-like symptoms

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Deer Fly
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TULAREMIA (Rabbit Fever)
Ulcer at the site of infection
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TULAREMIA (Rabbit Fever)
Tick bite infected with tularemia
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TULAREMIA PREVENTION

• Dont let ticks embed on you
• Remove ticks promptly
• Protect skin from deer flies
• Wear gloves when skinning or handling rabbits
• Cook meat of wild rodents and rabbits thoroughly

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RELAPSING FEVER

• Ornithodoros ticks (soft)
• Bite lt 1 hour
• painless
• unnoticed
• Dont sleep in rodent-infested places
• Avoid old cabins, caves, crawl spaces

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OTHER ARACHNIDS

• Black widow spider
• Hobo spider
• Brown recluse spider
• Scorpions

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BLACK WIDOW
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Hobo Spider (funnel web)
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BROWN RECLUSE Fiddleback
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Brown Reclose Spider Range
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Centruroides Scorpions
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WILD PLANTS
DONT EAT THEM!!
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TOXIC PLANTS (INGESTION)

• DONT EAT
• Fungi tode-stuhl death seat
• Water hemlock
• Unknowns

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There are old mushroom hunters, And there are
bold mushroom hunters, but There are no old, bold
mushroom hunters. -Anonymous
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WATER HEMLOCK (food lookalike)

• Most toxic indigenous NA plant
• Looks like turnip, smells like parsnip sweet
• Common names
• poison parsnip, false parsnip, death-of-man,
  childrens bane, beaver poison
• Cicutoxin (neurotoxin)

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WATER HEMLOCK
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TOXIC PLANTS (CONTACT)

• DONT TOUCH (urushiol toxin)
• Poison ivy
• Poison oak
• Poison sumac
• Florida poisontree

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TOXIC PLANTS

• Prevent exposure
• Recognize and avoid plant
• Know plants habitats
• Wear protective clothing
• Apply protective ointment to exposed skin
• Clean skin clothes thoroughly after exposure

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POISON OAK
POISON IVY
POISON SUMAC
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POISON IVY

• Virtually nationwide
• 3-leaf groups varying seasonally from dark
  green to red-brown
• white berries
• Tiny plant to massive tree-climbing vine
• ALL PARTS of plant toxic (forever ?)

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POISON IVY (SPRING)
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POISON IVY
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POISON IVY
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POISON OAK

• Western states
• Seward Park
• S. end Bainbridge Island (Fort Ward SP)
• Klickitat county E Washington
• Oak-shape 3-leaf groups dark green to red-brown
  seasonally
• white, waxy berries
• SIZE tiny plant to large shrub, bush
• ALL PARTS of plant toxic (forever ?)

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POISON OAK
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POISON SUMAC

• Eastern North America
• Habitat limited to swamps, bogs, wet areas
• Compound leaves 7-11 leaflets
• Same problems as the ivies

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POISON SUMAC
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FLORIDA POISONTREE

• Range south peninsular Florida Keys
• Compound leaves
• Drier habitat than poison sumac
• May grow on hammocks as well
• Same precautions as the others

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Florida Poisontree
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PREVENTION

• Recognize and avoid
• Clothing
• IVYBLOCK pre-exposure
• Immediate alcohol wash
• Soap and water wash
• ZANFEL post-exposure

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MORE IRRITANT PLANTS

• Devils club (Oplopanax horridum) all parts full
  of breakaway spines NW forests
• Stinging nettle grows in clusters shady places,
  forests
• Giant hogweed up to 4 meters high

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Devils Club
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Giant Hogweed
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Helpful Websites

• National Park Service
• www.nature.nps.gov/hazards
• safety/index.cfm
• Seattle Mountaineers
• www.mountaineers.org

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Informative Website
www.enature.com Regional guides highlight
dangerous and poisonous plants and animals.
As with all web information, do not accept
blindly.
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QUESTIONS?