[The medical management of the allergic worker in small industries and for craftsmen].
This report is aimed to suggest how allergic subjects can be admitted to activities at risk and how workers affected by occupational allergy can be relocated. Allergy is a mechanism strictly joined with the individuality trough the immunologic system of protection of the organism Works are the background of a possible exposure to agents able to rouse a specific hypersensitivity, but also the purposes of everyone for having a normal way of life. Population studies demonstrated that 70% of adults that present themselves for working as craftsmen or in small industries are normally reactive, but about 30% have a condition of a diagnosed allergy or are hyperreactive to the environment. Therefore it is unfeasible to exclude the allergic ones from work even for preventive aims. The true prevention is linked to manage a methodology of assessing and grading the allergologic risk at the workplaces (four levels are proposed) and of classifying the subjects by medical parameters (five class are proposed). The individual job fitness may be so defined, either at the first examination or periodically during working activity, monitoring self-reported symptoms and changement of used materials or of specific tasks. Informal guidelines are proposed to manage three possible situations of occupational allergic diseases and the engagement of the occupational physician also to be connected with allergy specialists and family doctors is recommended.
Cirla
A M
AM
Unità Operativa Ospedaliera di Medicina del Lavoro (UOOML), AO Istituti Ospitalieri di Cremona, Cremona, Italy. angelo.cirla@gruppocimal.it
D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy*; D007558:Italy; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy*