Cancer risk in workers exposed to oncogenic viruses

描述：在过去的50年里，队列死亡率研究一直是流行病学中用于评估各种行业中职业暴露于致癌物的工人癌症风险的主要方法之一。它们在检测工作场所的石棉、苯、苯胺染料等致癌物质的作用方面已被证明是有效和可靠的。这些研究也是流行病学证据的主要来源，证明这些物质对人类具有致癌性。它们导致采取了管制行动，大大减少了工作场所的这种有害接触，从而成功地保护了工人的健康。由于这些研究，现在的工作场所比30-50年前要安全得多。然而，尽管在各种职业和工业群体中进行了大量这类研究，但没有注意到鸡屠宰/加工厂的工人。这些工人通常属于最底层

DESCRIPTION: For over the past 50 years, cohort mortality studies have been one of the main methods used in epidemiology for evaluating cancer risk in workers occupationally exposed to carcinogens in various industries. They have proven effective and reliable in detecting the carcinogenic effects of agents such as asbestos, benzene, aniline dyes, etc. in the workplace. These studies have also been the main sources of the epidemiologic evidence that these agents are carcinogenic in humans. They have led to regulatory actions that have resulted in the dramatic reduction of such harmful exposures in the workplace, hence succeeded in protecting workers' health. The workplace is much safer now than it was 30-50 years ago because of these studies. However, in spite of the fact that a large number of these studies have been conducted in various occupational and industrial groups, attention has not been paid to workers in chicken slaughtering/processing plants. These workers typically belong to the lowest socioeconomic stratum and are among the lowest paid individuals in industry, with wages around the minimum allowed by law. Apart from the cohorts assembled in this proposed study, to our knowledge this occupational group has not been evaluated for cancer occurrence in cohort studies, even though other studies of weaker designs have suggested they may be at increased risk of developing cancer occupationally. This omission is all the more poignant because these workers are exposed at work to certain viruses that are among the most potent cancer-causing agents known in animals. In this application we propose to study cancer risk in this group of workers. The study will not only investigate whether exposure to infections with these viruses present a cancer hazard to these workers (i.e. cancer as an occupationally-induced infectious disease), it will also provide critical evidence as to whether human exposure to the oncogenic viruses of chickens in general is associated with the development of cancer. Infectious diseases are one of the priority areas identified by the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health in its Occupational Safety and Health Research program.