There is nothing quite like the burst of joy that comes with a fresh delivery of woodchips for my garden. The pile steams a columnar breath in the air; a living, breathing mound of organic potential, and working through it feels grounding, meditative. At least that is how it always was for me, until a recent weekend changed the way I look at how I engage with this “gift” to the landscape. After a long, satisfying morning of shoveling oak chips, moving wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow, and spreading them between newly planted beds, I felt a contented exhaustion that usually comes after a good few hours of outdoor work.
However, several hours later, the feeling shifted. My head began to ache, my muscles throbbed, and my vision felt strangely off. At first, I assumed a cold or flu was brewing, but there had been no other exposures, no sick contacts. That is when my suspicion shifted to just my fragrant, steaming pile of woodchips. As fever set in and sleep came in shaky waves of distorted cognition but, I kept wondering, could I be sick from the woodchip pile? Between bouts of chills and sweats, I started digging for answers and that’s when I discovered Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome.
ODTS is one of those conditions you rarely hear about until you experience something that sends you looking for explanations. It’s a sudden, flu-like illness that can strike after exposure to large amounts of organic dust. The dust may appear harmless; I had spent decades with and around woodchips as an arborist, horticulturalist and gardener with no effect. However, woodchip and livestock pen dust can carry massive loads of fungal spores, bacteria, and microscopic fragments. What makes ODTS so deceptive is that it doesn’t behave like an allergy. You don’t have to be sensitized; you don’t need prior exposures, and there’s no buildup over time. A single heavy exposure can trigger it, and when you feel the effects, they are substantial; fever, malaise, muscle aches, and respiratory discomfort are classic signs, appearing hours after the dust settles. In fact, ODTS outbreaks have affected huge portions of exposed groups like an incident in which 82% of attendees at a fraternity party became ill simply because straw had been spread on the floor (Brinton et al, 1987).
What’s happening inside the body during ODTS is surprisingly intricate for something that feels so sudden. Organic dust can be rife with fungal spores from species like Aspergillus, Penicillium, Eurotium, and Cladosporium, (Seifert et al., 2003). These spores carry potent biological components β‑1,3‑glucans, mannoproteins, and sometimes even mycotoxins that jolt the innate immune system into action (Sorenson and Lewis, 1996). At the same time, bacterial elements such as endotoxin and peptidoglycan amplify the response (Sorenson and Lewis, 1996). Together, this mixture lights up the lungs with inflammation: neutrophils rush in, immune messengers surge, and the body reacts with the flu-like symptoms that characterize ODTS. In short, ODTS is an intense immune reaction to breathing in too much organic dust at once. This is how a steaming pile of woodchips or a cloud of mulch dust can leave you sick in bed, replaying every moment of the day and cobbling together the fragmented pieces of a story through a blurred mind, to figure out just how, a familiar task managed to knock you down so completely.
This does not mean we should not get chips delivered or that there are any lasting impacts just that we must have caution and be properly prepared when engaging with organic materials. I would never want to deprive myself or any other gardener from the joy of getting a wood chip delivery. However, one must exercise care and thought to prevent exposure to organic dust. Most of the research into ODTS states that the impacts do not last over 24-36 hours of illness. Wearing a ventilator can prevent organic dust from entering your lungs. Also, prolonged exposure to organic dust may have longer-term impacts. So, mask up, take time and be careful because I would not wish the experience of ODTS on anyone and hope you have a happy healthy gardening in the future.
Brinton, W. T., E. F. Vastbinder, J. W. Greene, and J. Marx II.
“An Outbreak of Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome in a College Fraternity.” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 258, no. 9, 1987, pp. 1210–1212.
Seifert, Steven A., et al.
“Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome: A Review.” Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology, vol. 41, no. 2, 2003, pp. 185–193. Taylor & Francis, https://doi.org/10.1081/CLT-120019136.
Sorenson, W. G., and Daniel M. Lewis.
“Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome.” The Mycota VI: Human and Animal Relationships, edited by Howard and Miller, Springer‑Verlag, 1996, pp. 159–172.
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