Module 4: OCCUPATIONAL ALLERGY

OBJECTIVES
By the end of this module, you should:
  1. have an overview of the spectrum of occupational allergies;
  2. be familiar with the factors influencing the manifestation of occupational allergic diseases and the immunological mechanisms involved;
  3. be familiar with some of the common occupational allergic diseases and the body systems involved;
  4. be familiar with techniques used to evaluate the environment and the worker exposed to a potential occupational allergen;
  5. be familiar with legislation that pertain to occupational allergies;
  6. be familiar with the management of occupational allergic diseases at an individual and group level;

This introductory page contains links to other pages in this section. These are included for your convenience, both for reference and for revision purposes. It is strongly recommended, however, that you first access the material in its logical sequence, indicated by the "Next Page" link above.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. A lecture will provide the overview. Revise these notes.
  2. Work through the exercise.

REFERENCES:

  1. Jeebhay M. Occupational Allergy: a focus on biological agents. Current Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 13(3), 2-3, 2000.
  2. Jeebhay M. Health and safety legislation and worker’s compensation for allergic diseases of occupational aetiology. Current Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 13(3), 4-8, 2000.
  3. Janeway and Travers. The induction, measurement and manipulation of the immune response In Immunobiology: The Immune System in Health and Disease, 3rd edition Garland publishers, 2:1-2:52, 1997.
  4. Stark J, Rees D. Occupational Allergies: Immunology, Diagnosis and Compensation. Current Allergy and Clinical Immunology 1998;2:20-27.
  5. Kishiyama JL. Clinical Immunology. In Current Occupational and Environmental Medicine, LaDou J (editor). Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill, 3rd edition, New York, 14:188-211, 2004.
  6. Chan-Yeung, Malo JL. Natural history of occupational asthma. In Asthma in the Workplace. Eds Bernstein IL, Chan-Yeung M, Malo JL and Bernstein DI. Marcel Decker Inc., 2nd edition, 7:129-143, 1999.
  7. Commercially available RAST: http://www.allergysa.org/lspec_a.htm#occupational

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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.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.healthedu.uct.ac.za/