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Types of Work Related Asthma

There are 3 types of work-related asthma: 

  • Work-Aggravated:  when a person already has asthma but something at work makes the breathing symptoms worse.

  • New-Onset Asthma from a High Level Exposure to a Substance at Work:  when a person never had asthma before and was exposed to a spill or big leak of a chemical at work, and then developed asthma after that event.

  • New-Onset Asthma from Working with a Substance Known to Cause Asthma:  when a person may have worked with a substance at work, even for many years with no asthma symptoms and then develops asthma, months or years later.

For greater detail on the diagnosis and identification of the three types of work-related asthma, read the following scientific articles:

  • Malo, Jean-Luc and Moira Chan-Yeung.  Occupational Asthma.  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2001;108:317-328. Click here to find this article abstract in PubMed

  •  Youakim, Sami.  Work-Related Asthma.  American Family Physician 2001;64:1839-1948. Click here to find this article abstract in PubMed

Substances at work that can cause asthma

There are more than 400 substances that have been reported in the medical literature that have been shown to cause work-related asthma.  The list continues to grow.  The main categories of substances that can cause asthma in the workplace include:

  • ANIMALS (dander, fur, etc.)

  • PLANTS and PLANT material

  • CHEMICALS

The following is a short list of examples of the types of jobs, industries, and the types of substances that can cause asthma.  For the most up-to-date listing of asthma-causing agents, refer to this web site: www.asmanet.com/asmapro.  Click on the United States flag symbol to view the information in English.  This web site is an excellent resource for employers, workers and health professionals. 

Some of the more common workplace exposures

Job or Type of Industry                  Type of Asthma-Causing Agent

                          Animal or Insect Proteins

Laboratory animal workers                 
Veterinarians                                    dander and urine proteins

Food processing                                shellfish, egg proteins

Poultry farmers                                 poultry mites, droppings, feathers

Grain workers                                   storage mites, aspergillus, grass pollen

                                Plant Proteins

Bakers                                               flour dust

Food processing                                 coffee bean dust, tea, meat tenderizer

Farmers                                             soybean dust

Sawmill workers/carpenters                 wood dust (western red cedar, oak, mahogany, redwood, and others)

Electric soldering                                 colophony (pine resin)

Nurses                                                 psyllium, latex

                                  Chemicals

Plating                                                nickel salts

Beauty shop                                        persulfate

Welding                                              stainless steel fumes, chromium salts

Hospital workers                                 disinfectants (formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde)

Plastics manufacturing                        TDI, HDI, Methylene diisocyanate, phthalic anhydride

Automobile painting                            dimethyl ethanolamine diisocyanates

 (Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.  June 1992, Pub. No. 92-3091) 

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has developed Alerts on several asthma causing agents.  These Alerts provide important information on working with some of the more widely-used and dangerous asthma-causing agents.  Click on the reports below to read the Alerts on:

Preventing Asthma in Animal Handlers
Preventing Asthma and Death from Diisocyanate Exposure
Preventing Allergic Reactions to Natural Rubber Latex in the Workplace
Click here for a link to a website on metalworking fluids and asthma

Examples of Agents Capable of Causing Work-Related Asthma

 

 

                          Natural Products

 

vegetable gums

 

orris root

 

flax seed

 

flour

 

castor bean

 

papain

 

soybean

 

mushroom dust and moldy composte

 

natural glues

 

wood dusts

 

animal danders and other animal antigens

 

natural resins

 

coffee bean

 

animal fat, oil and products

 

insect debris

 

fish meal and emulsions

 

detergent enzymes

 

tobacco dust

 

grain dusts and grain products

 

pancreatic extracts

 

                                Synthetics

 

Inorganic

 

Pharmeceuticals

 

     platinum, complex salts

 

     psyllium

 

     nickel salts

 

     penicillin

 

     chromium salts

 

     ampicillin

 

     sodium and potasium

 

     spiramycin

 

     persulphates

 

     phenylglycine acid chloride

 

Organic

 

     sulphathiasole

 

     Diisocyanates

 

     bromelin

 

          toulene

 

     amprolium hydrochloride

 

          diphenylmethane

 

     sulphone choloramides

 

          hexamethylene

 

     tetracycline

 

     Anhydrides

 

Miscellaneous

 

          phthalic

 

     formaldehyde

 

          tetrachlorophthallic

 

     piperazine

 

          trimellitic

 

     organophosphorus insecticides

 

     Amines

 

     pyrolysis products of polyvinyl chloride

 

          aminoethyl

 

     alkylaryl polyether alcohol

 

          ethanolamine

 

     tartrazine

 

          dimethyl ethanolamine

 

     products of heated adhesives

 

          ethylene diamine

 

 

 

          paraphenylenediamine

 

 

 

          diethylene triamine

 

 

 

         diethylene tetramine

 

 
 
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