BY PAT MELGARES ~ K-State Extension News and Service | July 22, 2026

MANHATTAN — Dust is an unavoidable part of farming, but a Kansas State University expert says what’s floating in the air around grain bins, hay barns and livestock facilities can pose serious risks to farmers’ health.

Mitch Ricketts, professor of agricultural safety and health at Kansas State University, said agricultural dust is much more than just soil and plant material.

“Agricultural dust has a lot of different components in it,” Ricketts said. “Besides the soil and the plant material that we think about being in the dust, there’s also mold, bacteria, dust mites and a lot of other organisms. And when we breathe the dust that contains those organisms, it can cause allergic or toxic reactions.”

Ricketts said many people experience mild symptoms, such as a runny nose or itchy eyes. But in some cases, the health effects are far more serious and may require medical attention.

Organic dust toxic syndrome common

Though lesser known, one of the most common illnesses caused by farm dust is organic dust toxic syndrome, or ODTS.

“Researchers estimate that about one out of every four farmers experiences (ODTS) at least once during their career, and many farmers experience it over and over again,” Ricketts said.

ODTS typically develops a few hours after a farmer has been in an enclosed, dusty area, such as a grain bin, hay barn or other confined space with high concentrations of moldy or out-of-condition grain or hay. Symptoms resemble a severe case of the flu: fever, chills, cough, muscle aches, headache and shortness of breath.

To illustrate, Ricketts cited a case from a medical journal in which a worker was unloading old, moldy grain from a storage structure.

“It was so dusty as he was unloading it that he had to stop often because his eyes were burning and he was coughing,” Ricketts said.

A few hours after finishing the job, the worker developed shortness of breath, muscle pain, heavy sweating, high fever and constant coughing. He was hospitalized, and doctors found fluid in his lungs, indicating inflammation. He recovered fully within two days.

The typical progression of ODTS includes:

A massive exposure.

Rapid onset.

Severe but short-lived illness.

Normally, an infected person has no permanent damage. Unlike allergies, ODTS is believed to be caused by toxins in bacteria and fungi, rather than an immune response.

When exposure becomes chronic

Ricketts warned that symptoms of ODTS can be similar to a much more serious condition: hypersensitivity pneumonitis, or HP, which can be acute or chronic and is driven by an overreaction of the body’s immune system to allergens and irritating substances in organic dust.

“The acute form (of HP) typically happens again after a very massive exposure,” he said. “That one is typically going to require medical care to recover, and in some cases that can turn into a chronic illness.”

Chronic HP can be disabling. People who develop it become highly sensitive to certain allergens, and repeated exposures can severely affect their quality of life.

“In fact, many of them