RESUMO
Specific sensitization and respiratory effects associated with the inhalation of sugar cane dust were evaluated in a group of 51 Nicaraguan workers exposed to bagasse. A questionnaire interview, lung function test, serum precipitin tests for Thermoactinomyces sacchari and T. vulgaris, and immunoglobulin E tests for specific environmental allergens were performed for each worker. Twenty-one workers reported at least one respiratory symptom and 16 reported possible symptoms of bagassosis. Six workers demonstrated acute symptoms, 1 had chronic symptoms, and 9 had the reacutized form of the disease. A higher proportion of precipitin response to T. sacchari and T. vulgaris was found in workers reporting symptoms suggestive of acute bagassosis. A possible restrictive ventilatory pattern was observed in 8 subjects and a mild airway obstruction in 1 subject. Priority must be given to a surveillance and exposure prevention program for workers employed in sugar cane production and processing.
Assuntos
Pulmão de Fazendeiro/imunologia , Micromonosporaceae/imunologia , Pneumoconiose/imunologia , Adulto , Estudos de Coortes , Pulmão de Fazendeiro/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Nicarágua/epidemiologia , Exposição Ocupacional , Pneumoconiose/epidemiologia , Testes de Precipitina , Prevalência , EspirometriaAssuntos
Humanos , Masculino , Idoso , Micromonosporaceae/patogenicidade , Doenças Pulmonares Intersticiais/etiologia , Alveolite Alérgica Extrínseca/etiologia , Micromonosporaceae/imunologia , Doenças Pulmonares Intersticiais/diagnóstico , Doenças Pulmonares Intersticiais/tratamento farmacológico , Pneumopatias Fúngicas/etiologia , Poluição do Ar em Ambientes Fechados/efeitos adversos , Ar Condicionado , Dispneia/etiologia , Budesonida/uso terapêutico , Alveolite Alérgica Extrínseca/diagnóstico , Alveolite Alérgica Extrínseca/tratamento farmacológico , Poluentes Ocupacionais do Ar/efeitos adversos , Poluentes Atmosféricos/efeitos adversosRESUMO
Thermoactinomycetes are microorganisms similar to the aerobic actinomycetes that grow at temperatures between 32 65 degrees C and are usually found in soil, hay and warm environment. They are the agent of Extrinsic Allergy Alveolitis producing an interstitial process of immunologic, generated by the inhalation of the environmental dust that contain spores from these fungi. There is one case of a middle age man who works in a boiler of a foundry company of province de Buenos Aires in Argentina. The patient presents a clinical picture compatible with the above mentioned illness and he gets better in vacation periods. The Thermoactinomyces vulgaris was isolated from the dust accumulated in a ceiling light.