| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuttle, Merlin | 42 | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
At around June 18 of 1983 Dr. Merlin Tuttle (42) began doing bat photography in a cave near San Antonio, Texas. This cave has a bat population of some 20 million and the air within is heavy with the smell of ammonia and bat guano. Consequently Tuttle wore an ammonia respirator while working. The trips into the cave lasted from two to four and a half hours, every other day or so. After a week of this Tuttle began experiencing headaches and a general malaise. A doctor decided he must have a flu virus infection and suggested taking aspirin. Tuttle took Tylenol, felt better and continued working. The symptoms returned, however, and grew worse. The headaches became severe, with a fever and chills and after a second week he felt he was too weak to exit the cave should he choose to go in. He entered a hospital and was found to have severe ammonia-induced pneumonia. He was hospitalized for ten days.
Tuttle's total exposure time was 27 hours at an ammonia level twice that allowed in an industrial situation (a standard designed to allow working eight hours a day for an extended period). He had had numerous previous exposures at lesser ammonia concentrations. His condition upon starting treatment was 35% use of his lungs with a prognosis of recovering 70% use. Recovery was complicated by disagreement among doctors regarding treatment. Use of steroids, for instance, to retard the growth of scar tissue in the lungs caused a depression of the immune system allowing ordinary pneumonia to follow that from the ammonia. Luckily, Tuttle feels he has completely recovered. The respirator used apparently leaked. Tuttle intends to continue his work using one that has been professionally tested. This is imperative for anyone operating in bat caves with a heavy ammonia odor.
Dr. Merlin Tuttle developed severe ammonia-induced pneumonia from repeated exposure while photographing bats in a heavily ammonia-laden cave, due to a leaking respirator.