Respiratory troubles and diseases caused by farm work (Farmer's Lung, etc.).

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ebinhara I ; Isomura K ; Izumi S ; Kaishio K ; Kameyama K ; Kanbe Y ; Kanno J ; Kato E ; Konishi Y ; Miyamoto A ; Noda K ; Nomura S ; Sasaki S ; Takato M ; Uchida A ; Ueda A
• Description:
  Respiratory system disorders associated with farming in Japan were discussed. Mortality data of respiratory diseases obtained from official records were summarized. Mortality from pneumonia and bronchitis in the general Japanese population decreased from 173.8 deaths/100,000 in 1947 to 33.7 deaths/100,000 in 1975. The mortality rate was higher in rural than in urban areas. When analyzed by occupation, it was highest in agricultural workers and fishermen. The results of a four year project to investigate respiratory disorders associated with farm work supervised by the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine were reviewed. These have shown a high incidence of disorders such as chronic bronchitis, pneumoconiosis, allergic respiratory diseases, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis stemming from threshing operations, rice hulling, compost preparation, and spraying agricultural chemicals. Pathological changes indicative of type-I pneumoconiosis or more severe disorders have been found in lungs from farmers examined at autopsy. The lungs were also found to contain rice, wheat straw, other organic dusts, and inorganic dust particles. Rice, wheat straw, cilia of young sprouted tea leaves, and chrysanthemum leaves have been found to be antigens for occupational asthma. A relatively high percentage of subjects with respiratory symptoms reacted positively to fungus antigens known to cause farmer's lung; however, only three cases of farmer's lung had been identified in all of Japan. The authors conclude that in rural areas of Japan a significant percentage of the inhabitants suffer from respiratory symptoms and obstructive pulmonary disease which can be attributed to inhaling dusts generated by various agricultural operations. Methods for suppressing dust generated during farming activities should be developed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Dust Epidemiology Microbiology Mortality Occupational Health Respiratory Hypersensitivity Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  NIOSH-Grant; Grants-other; Agricultural-workers; Epidemiology; Pulmonary-system-disorders; Microorganisms; Workplace-studies; Dust-exposure; Organic-dusts; Respiratory-hypersensitivity; Mortality-rates; Postmortem-examination
• Publisher:
  International Association of Agricultural Medicine
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  90-94
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00184044
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the VII International Congress of Rural Medicine, September 17-21, Salt Lake City, Utah. International Association of Agricultural Medicine, 1978 Sep; :90-94
• Contact Point Address:
  Prev Med & Environmental Hlth University of Iowa Inst/agric Med & Environ Hlth Iowa Oakdale, Iowa 52319
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1978
• NORA Priority Area:
  Other Occupational Concerns ; Grants Other
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19770201
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the VII International Congress of Rural Medicine, September 17-21, Salt Lake City, Utah
• End Date:
  19800229
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/242654/cdc_242654_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]