Work-related asthma

Details

• Personal Author:
  Tumpowsky C
• Description:
  Happy New Year! For some of you, this is your first quarterly Occupational Lung Disease Bulletin, a project of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's (MDPH) Occupational Health Surveillance Program (OHSP). We have expanded our mailing list and have added occupational health clinics, occupational health nurses, and a selected group of primary care physicians to the list of pulmonologists and allergists already receiving the Bulletin. We hope that you find it informative and that it serves as a reminder to report cases of work-related lung disease. Because this is the first issue for many readers, we have included a general article on work-related asthma, one of the reportable occupational lung diseases in Massachusetts. In addition, we are enclosing with this Bulletin, a list of common asthma causing agents for your reference. Occupational asthma (OA), strictly defined, is asthma caused by exposure to substances in the workplace. Most OA occurs after sensitization. The dose of an agent required for initial sensitization is not known, but once sensitized, a worker can subsequently develop asthma symptoms from smaller doses. These sensitizers include pharmaceuticals, animal dander, proteins, enzymes, and other low and high molecular weight chemicals. Less common, but increasingly important is workplace asthma developing after exposure to irritants such as the vapors and gases of acids and other compounds. There are now over 200 identified causes of occupational asthma. New agents are continually being discovered. Existing asthma which is aggravated, rather than caused, by exposure to irritants at work is very common, although not considered OA per se. However, it is important to note that for purposes of obtaining Workers' Compensation benefits, pre-existing asthma that is aggravated or exacerbated by workplace exposures may be compensable under the Workers' Compensation laws in many states and is reportable in Massachusetts. Clearly, all individuals with asthma need to avoid exposures to such irritants both at work and at home. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Animals Asthma Asthma, Occupational Biopharmaceutics Case Reports Chemistry Emergency Responders Enzymes Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Hypersensitivity Irritants Lung Lung Diseases Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Solvents Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Airway-resistance Bronchial-asthma Case-studies Chemical-properties Emergency-care Employee-exposure Gases Health-care Lung-disease Lung-irritants Medical-services Molecular-structure Occupational-diseases Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Occupational-respiratory-disease Pharmaceuticals Proteins Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Sensitization Surveillance-programs Vapors Work-environment

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• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042755
• Citation:
  SENSOR Occup Lung Dis Bull 1998 Jan; :1-2
• Contact Point Address:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, 250 Washington Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19880415
• Source Full Name:
  SENSOR Occupational Lung Disease Bulletin
• End Date:
  20050929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:86e35f95bb401e6c1892b6630e50c69c0157b4edcedc03f24df7e2e77f7593c15e52de2e335088f4767694af3d70479dad5613fb527124b67caf8e568ddf43ea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194884/cdc_194884_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 34.83 KB ]