Module 3: OM2 11.1:Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
 

MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES (MCSs)

Definition

An acquired disorder characterized by recurrent symptoms, referable to multiple organ systems, occurring in response to demonstrable exposure to many chemically unrelated compounds at doses far below those established in the general population to cause harmful effects.

Cullen’s Diagnostic Features:

The following are diagnostic features of MCSs as described by Cullen 1:

  1. The disorder is acquired in relation to some documentable environmental exposure, insult or illness.
  2. Symptoms involve more than one organ system.
  3. Symptoms recur and abate in response to predictable stimuli.
  4. Symptoms are elicited by exposures to chemicals of diverse classes and toxicological modes of action.
  5. Symptoms are elicited by exposures that are demonstrable.
  6. Exposures that elicit symptoms must be very low (many standard deviations below average exposures, known to cause adverse human responses).
  7. No single widely available test of organ system function can explain symptoms.

REFERENCES:

  1. La Dou Chapter 43: Multiple chemical sensitivity.
  2. http://www.aafp.org/afp/980901ap/magill.html
  3. http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/0192.html
  4. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/multiplechemicalsensitivities/index.html
  5. http://www.acsh.org/publications/booklets/mcs.pdf

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Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (DOH) - Modules 3 – 5: Occupational Medicine & Toxicology by Prof Rodney Ehrlich & Prof Mohamed Jeebhay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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