Salmon allergen exposure, occupational asthma, and respiratory symptoms among salmon processing workers

• Published in: American journal of industrial medicine Vol. 55; no. 7; pp. 624 - 630
• Main Authors: Dahlman-Höglund, Anna, Renström, Anne, Larsson, Per H., Elsayed, Said, Andersson, Eva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01-07-2012; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Adult; adverse effects; Air Pollutants; Air Pollutants, Occupational - adverse effects; Animals; Asthma; Asthma, Occupational - epidemiology; Asthma, Occupational - etiology; Asthma, Occupational - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; blood; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma; complications; Confidence Intervals; Environmental Health and Occupational Health; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; epidemiology; etiology; Female; fish aeroallergen; Food Hypersensitivity; Food Hypersensitivity - complications; Food-Processing Industry; Humans; Immunoglobulin E; Immunoglobulin E - blood; immunology; Male; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Miljömedicin och yrkesmedicin; Nonparametric; Occupational; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; Occupational Diseases - etiology; Occupational Exposure; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; parvalbumin measurement; Pneumology; Respiratory System; Salmon; Salmon - immunology; Statistics; Statistics, Nonparametric; United States; United States - epidemiology; Norway; Sweden; Europe; United States; Allergy; Edible fish; Seafood; Occupational exposure; Respiratory system; fish aeroallergen; Food industry; Pisces; Bronchus disease; Worker; Obstructive pulmonary disease; Food; Quantitative analysis; Human; Immunopathology; Lung disease; parvalbumin measurement; Respiratory disease; Salmon; Asthma; Symptomatology; Vertebrata; Aeroallergen; Occupational medicine; Allergen
• ISSN: 0271-3586; 1097-0274; 1097-0274
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.22067

Background
This investigation was triggered by three cases of asthma—about 10% of the workforce—occurring in a salmon processing plant over a short period of time. The aim of the investigation was to characterize the work exposure of inhalable organic particles with personal measurements. Respiratory symptoms at work among workers were also assessed.
Methods
Exposures to airborne salmon allergen, airborne mold spores, and endotoxin in water and air were measured during work. To assess the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) Sal s 1 allergen exposure a polyclonal sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed. Current workers (n = 26) answered questionnaires and underwent allergy and lung function tests.
Results
Using the sensitive ELISA method (0.05 ng/ml), we found that workers were exposed to high levels of salmon major allergen at the filleting machine and at the filleting table. Airborne endotoxin levels were low, and mold levels were elevated. Only the three initial asthma cases had IgE to salmon. Of the other workers, 65% reported respiratory symptoms at work. These had lower pulmonary function than workers without such symptoms.
Conclusions
We developed a sensitive method to measure salmon antigen in air and found that filleting workers were most exposed. It is important to reduce aerosols by improving the ventilation system, machines and organization of work since respiratory symptoms at work among workers were common. Am. J. Ind. Med. 55:624–630, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.