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An Australian and American article on similar topics: when work makes us sick. Read about this widespread cause of disease - and don't overlook (even if the reporters do) how damp, moldy, sick buildings contribute to this picture.
When work makes you sick.
Workplace allergy, specifically occupational asthma, accounts for about 10 percent of asthma cases in the United States.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_9244788?nclick_check=1
By Lisa Belkin
New York Times News Service
Article Last Updated: 05/13/2008 12:13:23 PM CDT
NEW YORK — For Patty Mulcahy, it began with itchy eyes. They started to water two years ago, when renovation began on the midtown office building where she was working as an assistant at a television network. By the fifth day, after 30,000 square feet of new carpeting had been glued in place, the redness and swelling became unbearable. She ended up in the emergency room.
Over the next three months, she developed a bad cough. Doctors at first suspected pneumonia, but it worsened in spite of antibiotics. When she collapsed at her desk in October 2006, barely able to breathe, she learned she had what doctors call 'occupational asthma.'
In other words, she was allergic to work.
This time of year, there is a lot of sneezing and coughing in the workplace — spring is allergy season. But for some, the cause of the misery is not what's outside but what's within.
While it sounds like a punch line or a handy excuse for avoiding the office, workplace allergy, specifically occupational asthma, accounts for about 10 percent of asthma cases in the United States, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Occupational asthma alone is estimated to be responsible for 24.5 million missed workdays nationwide annually, said Karin Pacheco, an occupational medicine specialist at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, which specializes in respiratory illness.
Work-induced allergy is fairly simple to diagnose: The symptoms worsen as the workday progresses and lessen after you leave. You feel fine on weekends and vacations.
Much more complicated is what to do about it. The only cure is to avoid the allergy trigger. That may be possible when your trigger is peanuts, but how do you earn a living when your trigger is the place you work?
An allergic reaction is an overreaction of the immune system, causing everything from rashes to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. Sometimes, the reaction occurs the first time a substance is encountered, but allergies more commonly develop after repeated exposure.
Although even immunologists use the terms allergy and sensitivity interchangeably, there is a difference. Allergic sensitivity means an allergy to a specific allergen like ragweed; sensitivity refers to a nonspecific irritant. The headache you get after being exposed to pungent room freshener, for instance, indicates a sensitivity to an irritant, while the swelling of your throat when you eat shrimp is an allergic response. In other words, an allergy can kill, while a sensitivity just makes you miserable.
RISKY BUSINESS
Nearly every workplace has potential triggers. The Mayo Clinic Web site (mayoclinic. com) lists 16 professions at risk for occupational asthma, including veterinarian (exposure to dander), cabinetmaker (wood dust), cleaning staff (disinfectants), baker (dust from flour and grain) and hairdresser (chemicals and fumes).
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha. gov) has guidelines for handling these and other substances, and masks, ventilation systems and exposure rotations go a long way toward reducing allergies at work. But some people suffer even with the best of practices.
Severe allergies fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to make reasonable changes in the workplace to enable an employee to do the job. And allergies developed at work often fall under workers' compensation laws. But both routes can be complex and capricious, and redress is often dependent on the attitude of the employer.
Mark Strikwerda, 55, said his employer, the North County Fire Protection District in Fallbrook, Calif., did all it could to help him. He began fighting fires 32 years ago and was healthy until March 2005, when, following a particularly smoky blaze, he developed what he called "the worst sore throat." The throat pain ebbed, he said, but he was left with a cough he could not shake. By June, he appeared so ill that firehouse medics drove him to a hospital, where the oxygen level in his blood was found to be low.
After being told he had occupational asthma, Strikwerda spent nine months on paid disability, trying to find a medical regimen that would return him to work. Eventually, he took an office job with the fire department, but not only is he not permitted to fight fires, he cannot even stand near the idling trucks: Exhaust undoes him.
LEGAL DUST-UP
Conflicts over work-related irritants and allergens can end up in court. Last July, Susan McBride, who works in the planning department of the city of Detroit, sued the city in U.S. District Court for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
McBride, her lawsuit says, suffers from severe migraines, dizziness, nausea, earaches and sinus and breathing problems when exposed to strong scents, and she regularly became ill at work when a colleague arrived wearing perfume.
The colleague refused to stop spritzing (though she did agree to unplug an air freshener), and the women's bosses refused to ban scents in the office.
The case created a burst of comment on such Web sites as overlawyered.com and breathefreeordie.com. The chatter on Overlawyered tended to suggest McBride was an example of all that is wrong with the legal system; Breathe Free respondents seemed inclined toward canonizing her. Dozens of workers contacted her lawyer, Ann Curry Thompson, who is now bringing similar suits in Texas and Ohio.
Thompson said McBride is still going to work, armed with antihistamines, painkillers and inhalers. No trial date has been set.
As for Mulcahy, she wore a mask at the office, hoping for a return to good health when the dust literally settled. But she still coughed, and when she requested an air-quality test and asked whether the ventilation system was clogged, "they started treating me like a potential lawsuit, giving me bad reviews and sending me for meetings with HR," Mulcahy said.
So she left in February for an office that does not make her cough as often, though she knows that, as a general rule, once allergic is always allergic.
"I still can't go into a restaurant with candles or walk by the horses in Central Park," she said. "For the rest of my life, I'll be reminded of that one job."
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May 17, 2008 10:18am
Work a hidden cause of asthma
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/05/17/11209_more-health.html
17May08
WORKPLACE triggers are responsible for up to 3,000 new cases of asthma in Australia every year, according to a recent study.
Occupational asthma is triggered by agents such as wood dust, paint fumes, latex and baking flour, and is believed to be responsible for between nine and 15 per cent of adult-onset asthma cases diagnosed each year.
"Unfortunately, people with occupational asthma often have to change jobs or careers to relieve their symptoms, hence work disruption and economic hardship can result," said Dr Kuldeep Bhatia of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease that currently affects more than two million Australians.
Although it is incurable, occupational asthma is thought to be largely avoidable through measures that reduce exposure to trigger factors in the workplace.
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