[Occupational asthma due to chamomile: case report].

We report the case of a worker employed in the packaging of herb infusions who came to our attention because he was suffering from breathing disorders caused by occupational exposure to chamomile dusts. The diagnostic procedure we followed highlighted a baseline lung function within the normal range, while the skin prick tests and the RAST test were positive to both seasonal aeroallergens and chamomile. To perform a specific bronchial provocation test, the patient was challenged in an exposure chamber with nebulization of an extract from chamomile flowers.

Description of a specific bronchial provocation test for the diagnosis of occupational asthma due to platinum salts.

Background: Occupational exposure to platinum salts may cause the onset of skin and respiratory disorders with an IgE-mediated allergic mechanism. The diagnosis of occupational asthma due to platinum salts was, in a small number of cases, achieved also via occupational specific bronchial provocation tests (sBPT), which until now were conducted by pouring platinum salt dusts from one tray to another or by direct aerosoling of hexachloroplatinate solutions into the patient's airways.

Methods: Here we describe an original occupational sBPT based on atomization of solutions of ammonium hexachloroplatinate, at increasing concentrations, in a 5 m3 challenge room: the starting solution is a 1:100 dilution of the preset threshold of the patient's skin reactivity to the substance.

Airborne concentrations of chrysotile asbestos in serpentine quarries and stone processing facilities in Valmalenco, Italy.

Asbestos may be naturally present in rocks and soils. In some cases, there is the possibility of releasing asbestos fibres into the atmosphere from the rock or soil, subsequently exposing workers and the general population, which can lead to an increased risk of developing asbestos-related diseases. In the present study, air contaminated with asbestos fibres released from serpentinites was investigated in occupational settings (quarries and processing factories) and in the environment close to working facilities and at urban sites.

Rechallenging subjects with occupational asthma due to toluene diisocyanate (TDI), after long-term removal from exposure.

Objectives: Aims of this study were to define (1) whether toluene diisocyanate (TDI) bronchial hyper-responsiveness persists in subjects with occupational asthma after long-term cessation of exposure; (2) whether evolution of specific bronchial TDI sensitization and symptoms and functional abnormalities of asthma were coincident, and (3) the determinants at the time of diagnosis of patients' outcome.

Methods: Twenty-five nonatopic spray painters with occupational asthma due to TDI were re-examined 58 +/- 7 (46-73) months after removal from exposure. On both examinations, the severity of asthmatic symptoms and the need for antiasthma treatment over the past 12 months were graded and lung function tests, measurement of airway responsiveness to methacholine (PD(20)), circulating total IgE and TDI-HSA specific IgE, skin tests with common inhalant allergens and specific bronchial challenge with TDI were carried out.