Byssinosis: Scheduled asthma in the textile industry
Byssinosis: Scheduled asthma in the textile industry
复制标题
棉尘病：纺织工业中的预定性哮喘
作者：
A. Bouhuys
棉尘病是纺织工人的一种职业性肺部疾病，可通过缺勤后第一个工作日的胸闷、咳嗽和喘息的特征病史与哮喘和其他形式的可逆性气道阻塞相区别。第一个工作日接触粉尘前后的肺功能测试证实，在棉、亚麻和软麻工厂的梳理、纺纱和其他粉尘作业中，气道阻塞的发生是粉尘接触的急性影响。这些工厂的灰尘含有一种水溶性热稳定剂，可以从人体肺组织中释放组胺。就棉尘而言，该物质源自棉花植物的苞片。最近对美国棉纺织工人和西班牙大麻工人的流行病学研究表明，长期接触纺织粉尘往往会导致致残性慢性肺病和肺功能丧失，而这是β-肾上腺素能药物不可逆转的。在此阶段，即使停止接触灰尘，疾病也可能会进展。最近的这项工作进一步强调了充分控制纺织工人呼吸性粉尘暴露的必要性。尽管有足够的医学文件证明过去 20 年来纺织粉尘暴露的健康风险，但由于其经济后果，这一目标的实现仍然难以实现。
Byssinosis, an occupational lung disease of textile workers, can be distinguished from asthma and other forms of reversible airway obstruction by its characteristic history of chest tightness, cough, and wheezing on first working days after absence from work. Lung function tests before and after exposure to dust on first working days confirm the occurrence of airway obstruction as an acute effect of dust exposure during work in carding, spinning and other dusty operations in cotton, flax and soft-hemp factories. The dust in these factories contains a water-soluble, heat-stable agent which releases histamine from human lung tissue. In the case of cotton dust, this agent originates in the bracts of the cotton plant. Recent epidemiological studies in U.S. cotton textile workers and in Spanish hemp workers have shown that prolonged exposure to textile dusts often leads to disabling chronic lung disease and to loss of lung function which is irreversible with β-adrenergic drugs. At this stage, the disease may progress even after exposure to dust ceases. This recent work further strengthens the need for adequate control of exposure to respirable dust among textile workers. Implementation of this goal remains elusive because of its economic consequences, in spite of adequate medical documentation of the health risks of textile dust exposure during the past 20 years.