Respiratory symptoms in arable farmworkers: role of storage mites.

Respiratory diseases and allergic sensitization in swine breeders: a population-based cross-sectional study

“…These findings are in apparent contrast with previous studies showing that swine breeding increased the risk of respiratory diseases and symptoms and accelerated decreased lung function with aging, 15,16 possibly owing to differences in sampling time and places, measurement technique, equipment, and diagnostic criteria. Also, the environmental conditions of farms could play a substantial role in influencing the health status of breeders.…”

Distribution of dust‐mite allergens (Lep d 2, Der p 1, Der f 1, Der 2) in pig‐farming environments and sensitization of the respective farmers

“…In randomly selected farming populations, the prevalence of sensitization to storage mites is from about 5% (3) to 6% (4), with considerably higher rates in asthmatic farmers (3). Studies involving farmers from Sweden (5), Finland (6), and Denmark (3) have found Lepidoglyphus destructor to be the most important species inducing storage mite allergy, and comparable results have been reported in the UK (7,8). High numbers of storage mites are present in crops (3,9), but storage mites have also been found in the farmers' mattresses, with a median number of 60 mites (Acarus siro, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, L. destructor, or any storage mite) per gram dust (3).…”

Does environmental endotoxin exposure prevent asthma?

“…85 Atopy has not been systematically studied in farmers since no controls were included in most studies so a direct comparison with the general population was not possible. However, several studies have reported relatively low prevalences of atopy, [86][87][88] which suggests that the reduced risk of atopy in farmers' children continues into adult life. It therefore seems that asthma is more prevalent among adult farmers, despite the apparent lower prevalence of atopy and the slightly lower prevalence of asthma in farmers' children.…”