Immunologic status of agricultural workers in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy

Purpose. Farming is associated with a wide variety of hazardous exposures including physical, chemicals and biological agents. Animal farmers are exposed to dust which contains microorganisms, mycotoxins, endotoxins, animal feed particles, allergens and chemical agents. Organic dust exposure is known to cause allergic and non-allergic rhinitis, and organic dust toxic syndrome. This study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between occupational health hazards and serum pro-inflammatory cytokines among agricultural workers, in particular we investigated whether animal breeders react differently to biological agents than non breeder farmers. Methods. One hundred subjects working in agricultural enterprises in the region of Lombardy, were enrolled into the study in 2010. Serum cytokines including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN\u3b3 and tumor necrosis factor-\u3b1 (TNF\u3b1) were measured. Cytokines were assessed by commercially available enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results of the study. Compared to control subjects, increased TNF-\u3b1, IL-8, and IL-10 levels were found in animal breeders, and a statistically significant relationship between type of job (breeder/non breeder workers) and increased serum pro-inflammatory cytokines. Results suggest that animal breeders might be at higher risk of occupational diseases and biological hazards than other farmers with less contact to animals

Sorveglianza sanitaria in agricoltura : l\u2019esperienza del Centro Internazionale per la Salute Rurale dell\u2019Azienda Ospedaliera San Paolo di Milano

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SURVEILLANCE IN AGRICULTURE: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR RURAL HEALTH. The results of the activities of occupational health surveillance in agriculture carried out by the International Centre for Rural Health since 2008 are described.The activities involve 800 workers employed in 260 farms in the Region of Lombardy (Italy). The types of farms reflect the vocation toward agricultural sector of the Po Valley and the most representative tasks are related to animal care and use of agricultural machinery. Based on the specific risks, workers are provided with preventive and periodic examinations, and complementary laboratory and instrumental evaluations (hearing and respiratory functions, electrocardiography), related to the different risk factors present in the enterprises. The occupational health priorities identified are, for the time being, noise-induced hearing loss and insufficient immunization against tetanus

Occupational health and safety in agriculture : situation and priorities at the beginning of the third millennium

Agriculture is a human activity, which includes a number of different tasks and occupies a huge number of people worldwide. Estimates of World Bank for 2003 suggest that 51% of globalpopulation lives in rural areas. ILO estimates that 1.3 billion of workers are engaged in agriculture, and they represent almost a half of the total number of economically active subjects (2,838,897,404). In developed countries, agriculture workers are only a small fraction of the whole work force (up to 9% according to ILO data), while in developing countries, especially in Asia, agriculture workers represent up to the 60% of the total work force. Most agriculture workers reside in Asia, in the Pacific (74%) and in Africa (16%). ILO estimates suggest that half of fatal occupational injuries in the world are attributable to agriculture. This means that around 170,000 agriculture workers die every year as a consequence of occupational injuries. Using the same estimate, half of the fatal accidents could be linked to agricultural activities (more than 130 million). Comparing this estimate with the 6.328.217 people injured in war in 2002 or with the 20-50 million injured victims of road accidents, one has a much clearer picture about the importance of preventing agricultural injuries. In a complicated situation such as occupational health and safety problems in agriculture, it is not so easy to select priorities clearly. But "legalization" of agriculture workers could be a key to solving all the other problems. Actual data on fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries in agriculture show that occupational health and safety issues are among the top priorities for that disciplin

Tuberculosis and cattle breeding : the case of an Egyptian milker

Occupational health in breeding activities is strongly embedded with animal health. Tuberculosis (TB) \u2013 known for its critical progress and for the long duration of the drug treatment \u2013 has the specificity of a bi-directional infectious potential. Tuberculosis is still endemic in Africa, Asia and Balkan Area. Among these, the most risky regions for the disease are North Africa and India. In the Italian agricultural system, about 37000 migrants are legally employed, most of them in seasonal activities (e.g.: harvesting) but if we consider Northern Italy, we can easily find a significant presence of foreign workers also in animal breeding. In our experience, we have observed that people from India and North Africa are often involved in cattle breeding. Case-report This case report deals with a worker from Aegypt, employed as milker in an Italian enterprise since 1990. The worker, a 51 years old man, affected by chronic HCV, showed suddenly symptoms and signs suggesting lung TB (cough, haemoptysis, weight loss and thoracic pain). A diagnosis of lung TB was made in the past and the worker underwent a multidrug therapy. A re-activation of a silent lung TB due to the immunodepression linked to the chronic liver disease or to a new infection have been inquired with questionnaire. The diagnostic approach performed included BK search in the sputum, lung X-ray, Mantoux test, pulmonary evaluation. The worker was held temporarily not suitable for work. Consequences Preventive measures provide to perform Mantoux test to all milker\u2019s colleagues and to perform tuberculin test to all animals reared. The occupational risk of TB to cattle breeders is discussed in light of bovine TB cases in Lombardy Region

A test of the effect of boundary conditions on the use of tracers in reservoir characterization

El establecimiento de condiciones de frontera adecuadas en modelos de transporte de trazador ha sido un tema controvertido principalmente debido a insuficiente evidencia física. En nuestro trabajo se analiza el problema desde una perspectiva orientada a la práctica. Se ajustan dos modelos equivalentes, pero con condiciones de frontera distintas, a una misma serie de datos de una prueba de trazadores y los valores resultantes de los parámetros de ajuste se comparan entre sí. La relevancia de las condiciones de frontera será alta si los valores difieren importantemente. El sistema considerado es la inyección de un pulso de trazador en un medio homogéneo unidimensional, en el cual el pulso se mueve a velocidad constante sujeto a advección y dispersión. El primer modelo establece condiciones sobre la concentración de trazador y el segundo sobre su flujo. Se encontró que las condiciones de frontera se vuelven más relevantes a menores números de Peclet. En los casos analizados el número Peclet es 25.0, 5.4 y 3.7 respectivamente; ello dio lugar a una diferencia máxima en el valor de los parámetros de ajuste de 5%, 18% y 37%. Aunque grande para experimentos de laboratorio, este porcentaje es en general poco significativo en pruebas de trazadores en campos petroleros, pues la variabilidad en los datos es frecuentemente alta. El uso de ciertas condiciones de frontera en lugar de otras parece no tener consecuencias importantes en la caracterización de yacimientos petroleros, sin embargo se debe tener cuidado cuando se tengan números de Peclet pequeños. doi: https://doi.org/10.22201/igeof.00167169p.2009.48.2.213

Occupational health problems of migrant workers : the Italian situation

Migrant workers are becoming more and more represented in the Italian productive tissue. Among 2,35 million immigrants are assessed by the National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT), in the first three-month period of 2008. Among them, 71,4% are active workers (996,000 men and 682,000 women), mostly living and working in the northern part of the country. According to the annual report of the National Italian Institute for the insurance of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INAIL), the increase of immigration is accompanied by an increase of the total work accidents, which have grown of 8,7%. Work injuries involving migrants are 15% of the total, which fatalities involving mainly Rumanians, Moroccans and Albanians. 14,5% of the occupational accidents are reported in the construction sector, with more than 20,000 notifications/year; a further sector in which a significant increase of occupational accidents is reported is household work, with an increase of 24% compared with 2005. These figures do not take into account occupational accidents occurred in illegal migrants (no less than 500,000). This makes data from agriculture poorly interpretable, because most of illegal immigrants are employed in this sector. The data on occupational diseases in migrants are sparse and not fully interpretable, but one can assume that, being hardly reaching by training and educational programmes due to linguistic and cultural barriers, they can be at higher risk for the same levels of exposure, compared to Italian workers. On the other hand, the number of foreign workers insured against occupational injuries and diseases is increased of 19,5% from 2006 to 2007, and of 36,9% in comparison to 2003. Another significant trend is the increase of the total amount of foreign entrepreneurs: they are mainly represented in breeding and agriculture (nearly 2.500), but their number is also relevant in other sectors, such as constructions and trade