Occupationally related respiratory symptoms in trout‐processing workers

Abstract

All eight production workers from a small trout-processing factory were studied because of respiratory or rhinitis symptoms when working next to the automatic gutting machine. Seven of the eight had positive histamine provocation tests. Four patients had elevated total IgE levels while one had a slightly elevated eosinophil count. All workers had either weakly or moderately positive RAST against contaminated water from the outlet drain of the gutting machine. This water contained 1 microgram endotoxin/ml. We concluded that five of the workers had probably developed occupationally related asthma from inhalation of contaminated aerosol from the gutting machine. Inhalation of endotoxin from gram-negative bacteria may be the cause of this disorder. An alternative explanation is a Type I allergy caused by fish or bacterial protein with or without a simultaneous effect of endotoxin.

Respiratory symptoms and ex vivo cytokine release are associated in workers processing herring.

“…The prevalence of occupational asthma due to fish processing has varied between 8 and 25% [6]. In addition, respiratory symptoms that are not due to allergy are common in the fish industry [12,14].…”

The IgE and IgG antibody responses to aerosols of Nephrops norvegicus (prawn) antigens: the association with clinical hypersensitivity and with cigarette smoking

“…Seafood antigens seem to be particularly potent sensitizing agents in humans [2j and in animals [3], and they can cause significant clinical problems in sensitized subjects [4]. These problems normally arise following ingestion of seafood [5,6], but respiratory symptoms can occur in workers exposed to aerosols of antigens generated in the processing of seafood [7][8][9][10][11][12]. The topic of Crustacea allergy has been reviewed recently [12], and it is clear that the constitutional and environmental factors which predispose individuals to develop symptoms when exposed to these unusual antigenic aerosols are poorly understood.…”

Occupational Exposure to Bioaerosols in Norwegian Crab Processing Plants

“…Endotoxin levels of 1350 EU/m 3 have been reported in herring industry (Bang et al 2005). Endotoxins are suggested to be a cause of occupational respiratory symptoms in occupational settings including among seafood processing workers (Sigsgaard and Schlunssen 2004;Sherson, Hansen, and Sigsgaard 1989;Madsen et al 2015).…”