Non-malignant disease mortality in meat workers: a model for studying the role of zoonotic transmissible agents in non-malignant chronic diseases in humans

Details

• Personal Author:
  Christopher A ; El Farawami M ; Johnson ES ; Lewis N ; Sall M ; Shah N ; Zhou Y
• Description:
  Current research efforts have mainly concentrated on evaluating the role of substances present in animal food in the etiology of chronic diseases in humans, with relatively little attention given to evaluating the role of transmissible agents that are also present. Meat workers are exposed to a variety of transmissible agents present in food animals and their products. This study investigates mortality from non-malignant diseases in workers with these exposures. METHODS: A cohort mortality study was conducted between 1949 and 1989, of 8520 meat workers in a union in Baltimore, Maryland, who worked in manufacturing plants where animals were killed or processed, and who had high exposures to transmissible agents. Mortality in meat workers was compared with that in a control group of 6081 workers in the same union, and also with the US general population. Risk was estimated by proportional mortality and standardized mortality ratios and relative SMRs. RESULTS: A clear excess of mortality from septicemia, subarachnoid hemorrhage, chronic nephritis, acute & sub-acute endocarditis, functional diseases of the heart, and decreased risk of mortality from pre-cerebral, cerebral artery stenosis were observed in meat workers when compared to the control group or to the US general population. CONCLUSIONS: We hypothesize that zoonotic transmissible agents present in food animals and their products may be responsible for the occurrence of some cases of circulatory, neurologic and other diseases in meat workers, and possibly in the general population exposed to these agents. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Animals Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Kidney Diseases Mortality Nervous System Nervous System Diseases Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Urogenital Diseases Urogenital System Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Animal-products-workers Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Circulatory-system Disease-incidence Disease-transmission Kidney-disorders Mortality-data Mortality-rates Neurological-diseases Neurological-system Risk-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Worker-health Workplace-studies Zoonoses

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039013
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2007 Aug; :64(8):849-855
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr E S Johnson, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107
• Email:
  ejohnson@hsc.unt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Texas
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050901
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20080430
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:05575abe5dc59039ec0dc8d55eb6d4cb1f565f54acd06d1dd46463daac567bc0884e32213a81b03b4171c146cb0599bac53db054598228a4faa8c963b1ee849b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192512/cdc_192512_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 190.42 KB ]