An outbreak of fume fever in an electronics instrument testing laboratory

An apparent outbreak of fume fever was identified among six workers in an electronics instrument testing laboratory during a routine thermal evaluation of conductivity on electrical cable. The employees experienced characteristic symptoms of fume fever. Three employees required hospitalization; they demonstrated fever, leukocytosis with a left shift, and significant arterial-alveolar oxygen gradients, all of which resolved over several hours. To prevent future occurrences, an attempt was made to delineate the etiologic agent by exactly reproducing the circumstances of the event and analyzing for the evolution of metal fumes or pyrolysis products of polymers. The pertinent findings included overall poor ventilation in the laboratory and the development of significant chloride air contamination during the test. This latter finding raises the possibility that a chloropolymer contaminant was the etiologic agent.