Deterioration of lung function and its association with eosinophil count.

Exposure to lethal dust particles has a negative impact on human's health. This work investigated the association between respiratory symptoms and eosinophil levels between quarry workers and the controls. A total of 75 workers exposed to quarry dust and 45 age, sex, body mass index-matched unexposed controls participated in this study. Results of this study indicated that the quarry dust particles produced inflammatory responses, increasing the mean eosinophil level (7.56 ± 2.94), causing allergic respiratory symptoms such as rhinitis , chest tightness, wheeze, sputum production thus impairing the lung function with decline in FEV1(80.84 ±108.8) level in workers exposed to quarry dust compared to controls (P≤0.00**) Conclusion: The presence of increased levels of respiratory irritants in quarry sites may explain the higher prevalence of respiratory infections and exacerbated inflammatory reactions found to ascertain the link between increased eosinophil count and the lung impairment in quarry workers.