PMID: 15236491Jul 9, 2004Paper

Occupational asthma diagnosis in workers exposed to organic dust

Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine : AAEM
Torben Sigsgaard, Vivi Schlunssen

Abstract

The clinical evaluation of newly developed asthma in an adult should always include consideration of his occupational environment, since an abundance of different exposures, which are known causes of asthma, occur in workplaces. Two types of occupational asthma (OA) are distinguished, by whether they appear after a latency period: 1)Immunological OA, characterised by a latency period, caused by high and low-molecular-weight agents, with or without an IgE mechanism 2) Non-immunological, i.e. irritant induced asthma. The first step of the clinical evaluation is to confirm a diagnosis of asthma. Second step is to find out if there is a temporo-spatial distribution of symptoms and lung function that are indicative of OA. Third step is to determine if the disease at hand is an IgE or a non-IgE mediated disease. Last step is a challenge test that can be either unspecific, in order to assess the responsiveness of the lung, or specific challenge test, especially for the non-IgE mediated OA. The depth of clinical evaluation may vary from a situation in which a classical history confirms the clinical symptoms in e.g. a baker with confirmed allergy towards well-known allergens and a characteristic pattern in serial measurements of lung fu...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Asthma

This feed focuses in Asthma in which your airways narrow and swell. This can make breathing difficult and trigger coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.

Allergy and Asthma

Allergy and asthma are inflammatory disorders that are triggered by the activation of an allergen-specific regulatory t cell. These t cells become activated when allergens are recognized by allergen-presenting cells. Here is the latest research on allergy and asthma.

Related Papers

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
J L Malo, M Chan-Yeung
Pediatric Allergy and Immunology : Official Publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
Matthew I FoggJonathan M Spergel
American Family Physician
S Youakim
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved