Diseases, occupational respiratory system

The first element in risk assessment is knowledge of the chemical exposures of a workforce to see if a known sensitizer is present. A chemical becomes accepted as a cause of occupational asthma if there are at least two convincing clinical case reports from independent centres. Specialist clinicians are likely to be aware of the published literature at an early stage and may be a useful source of informal information. There is currently much interest in publishing lists of sensitizers. One is available in a recent textbook (Chan-Yeung and Malo, 1993). The Health and Safety Executive in the UK, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the USA and other agencies may publish lists with updates. Other sources of information on causes are reporting schemes such as SWORD (Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Disease) in the UK (Ross el al., 1995) and SENSOR (Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks) in some states in the USA (Matte et al., 1990). 

Environmental hazards for health are basically due to emissions of the industrial enterprises and motor transport vehicles. In a daily life on a person as a rule acts the complex of adverse environmental factors. It results in development of pathological changes in different body systems, manifesting in functional, morphological and genetic shifts in an organism. As result ecologically or occupationally induced diseases of respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, reproductive and other systems are formed. 

Commonly used items such as latex gloves can cause asthma and other lung ailments. Our respiratory system connects the mouth, nose, lungs, and tubes. Occupational respiratory disease is a medical term normally used to describe diseases caused by, or made worse by, something breathed in at work (eg, wood dust, stone dust, poultry dust, or fumes). 

Petrenz (1844) complained of the nearly complete lack of information on quarriers disease in scientific papers and reference books. Practising medicine at Schandau in the mountain range on the Elbe river in Saxony, he was well-acquainted with this fatal disease. He advised a minimum age of 25 years for admission to the profession, wetted sponges to prevent the dust from entering the respiratory system, and change of occupation in case of respiratory disease. 

Respiratory history As noted above, formaldehyde has recognized properties as an airway irritant and has been reported by some authors as a cause of occupational asthma. In addition, formaldehyde has been associated with cancer of the entire respiratory system of humans. For these reasons, it is appropriate to include a comprehensive review of the respiratory system in the medical history. Components of this history might include questions regarding dyspnea on exertion, shortness of breath, chronic airway complaints, hyperreactive airway disease, rhinitis, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, asthma, emphysema, respiratory allergic reaction, or other preexisting pulmonary disease. 

As discussed above, absorption to the systemic circulation from the lungs is also a route of exposure of occupational concern. Pulmonary absorption is influenced by the diffusion factors just described, by the degree of hydration at various levels of the respiratory tract and the water solubility and water reactivity of the chemical, and by the integrity of the respiratory system s defense mechanisms. The mucociliary escalator, for example, provides an efficient capture and removal system for inhaled contaminants unless overwhelmed by the magnitude or frequency of exposure or otherwise compromised (e.g., by disease). 

Taylor G (1986) Acute systemic effects of inhaled occupational agents. In Merchant JA and Boehlecke BA (eds) Occupational respiratory diseases. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Cincinnati, Ohio, pp 607-625 Terho EO (1986) Diagnostic criteria for farmer s lung disease. Am J Ind Med 10 329... 

Mintzer RA, Gore RM, Vogelzang RL, Holz S (1981) Rounded atelectasis and its association with asbestos-induced pleural disease. Radiology 139 567-570 Mitchev K, Dumortier P, De Vuyst P (2002) Black spots and hyaline pleural plaques on the parietal pleura of 150 urban necropsy cases. Am J Surg Pathol 26 1198-1206 Monchaux G, Bignon J, Hirsch A, Sebastien P (1982) Translocation of mineral fibers through the respiratory system after injection into the pleural cavity of rats. Ann Occup Hyg 26 309-318... 

Cd concentrations in the lungs have been determined in humans and vary between 0.4—3.0 pg/g dry weight depending on age, sex, environmental exposure, smoking status, etc. [238,250,251]. Chronic obstructive lung disease frequently occurs as a result of long-term occupational exposure to Cd dusts and fumes (reviewed in [2,5]). The severity of the disease depends on exposure time and Cd dosage. Its manifestation may be slow and become apparent only after several years of exposure. In the upper respiratory system, chronic inflammation of the nose. 

OSHA Categories for Occupational Illness Occupational skin diseases and disorders Dust diseases of the lungs Respiratory conditions due to toxic agents Poisoning (systemic effects of toxic materials)... 

A high proportion of the occupational diseases caused by special substances are diseases of the respiratory tract, in particular, so-caUed pneiunoconiosis in the mining industry and silicosis, which is activated by quartz and particulate matter. Although these dusts themselves are not toxic, they can lead to chronic pulmonary damage as a result of an overload of the cleaning systems of the respiratory tract... 

A disease or illness is nontraumatic physiological harm or loss of capacity produced by systemic, continued, or repeated stress or strain exposure to toxins, poisons, fumes, and so on or other continued and repeated exposures to conditions of the environment over a long period of time. For practical purposes, an occupational illness or disease is any reported condition that does not meet the definition of injury (from a mishap). Illness includes both acute and chronic illnesses, such as, but not limited to, a skin disease, respiratory disorder, or poisoning. 

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