Recent developments in occupational asthma

This review contains a discussion on low-dose irritant induced asthma with latency, the least confounded example being in elite cross-country skiers due to hyperventilation with cold dry air. This can be the cause for asthma, and doesn't necessarily recover once the athlete stops training. If this can cause persisting asthma it is possible that many occupational exposures allegedly acting by irritant mechanisms may also cause persisting asthma.

References

	Burge PS, Recent developments in occupational asthma, Swiss Medical Weekly, 2010;140:128-132,

	Helenius I, Rytilä P, Sarna S, Lumme A, Helenius M, Remes V, Haahtela T, Effect of continuing or finishing high-level sports on airway inflammation, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and asthma: A 5-year prospective follow-up study of 42 highly trained swimmers, J Allergy Clin Immunol, 2002;109:963-968,

	KARJALAINEN E-M, LAITINEN A, SUE-CHU M, ALTRAJA A, BJERMER L, Evidence of Airway Inflammation and Remodeling in Ski Athletes with and without Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness to Methacholine, Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 2000;161:2086-2091,

Comments

I am a Buffalo NY firefighter. Less than 2 years ago, there was a large pool warehouse fire in the City of Buffalo(6-2-08). The fire burned for over a day, and you could see the dense chemical laden smoke for miles. Many members are now coming down with a variety of health issues. Where or how can we obtain information about studies that have been conducted following similar fires, or how can we arrange to have a study conducted relating to the long term health impacts for the personnel that were at the fire.

3/20/2010

There are very few situations where the effects of inhaling fumes is delayed by more than a day (but there are some). This is something you should discuss with your occupational health service who will need to see if there is any connection between the complaints and exposures. As a firefighter you are likely to have had other exposures as well which might be relevant. Any investigator will need to have access to all these.

3/20/2010