Occupational Allergic Contact Dermatitis in Wind Turbine Blades Production

Introduction: Epoxy resins, widely used in several industrial sectors, are among the main causes of allergic contact dermatitis. The wind turbine production industry is one of the sectors that uses these products widely. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of contact allergy to epoxy resin and its components among wind turbine blades production workers with suspected contact dermatitis. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the patch test results performed between 2012 and 2019 in wind turbine blades production workers with dermatitis and characterized their demographic and clinical data, patch test results and the occupational impact of allergic contact dermatitis on these workers. Results: Out of the 3049 patients patch tested in the period 2012-2019, we identified thirteen wind turbine blades production workers, predominantly male (69.2%). All of them handled glues, resins and/or paints in their daily work activities. Seven (53.8%) had a combination of hand dermatitis and airborne dermatitis, two (15.4%) had exclusively hand dermatitis and four (30.8%) had predominantly airborne dermatitis. All patients had positive patch test for epoxy resin and ten patients (76.9%) had also reaction for 1,6-hexanediol diglycidylether. Two patients (15.4%) also had a reaction to the already hardened resin powder. Four (30.8%) patients had to quit their jobs due to allergic contact dermatitis and three (23.1%) were transferred to another workstation without exposure to epoxy resin. Avoidance of exposure resulted in a significant improvement. Conclusion: With this study, we confirmed that epoxy resin and its components are the main cause of dermatitis among wind turbine blades production workers, that eczema occurs by direct contact and by airborne exposure.

Protein profile of the most common fungi at Sultan Idris education univer-sity, Malaysia

Fungi are vital pathogens related to airway and deferent diseases. Exposure to fungi will have adverse effects on human health through severe immune responses. Allergic diseases like allergic rhinitis, asthma, airborne dermatitis, or allergic conjunctivitis. These diseases may well be aggravated by fungi allergens from the natural atmosphere or from the indoor environment in enclosed areas, workplaces and houses. Fungi allergy prevalence for the Malaysian population has yet to be reported. Therefore, information on allergens of fungi species in Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Sultan Azlan Shah Campus will be used to profile the nation prevalence on fungi allergy. Hence, the present study is conducted at UPSI to identify the ten most common airborne fungal species as a preliminary work prior to sensitization study on common fungal allergens. Dust was collected from 54 rooms situated within the 3 blocks at UPSI Sultan Azlan Shah Campus buildings using a vacuum cleaner. The sieved dust was cultured using PDA media and incubated at room temperature to propagate pure culture and sent to the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute for identification using PCR. In this study the 10 most common species were identified as, Penicillium simplicissimum, Aspergillus aculeatus, Rhodosporidiobolus ruineniae, Ceriporia lacerate, Aspergillus caliodustus, Syncephalastrum sp., Aspergillus sp., Aspergillus fumigatus, Fusarium sp., and Penicillium canescens. Fungi profile exhibited in this study will lead to a further study on fungi allergy with skin prick test and immunoblotting to be carried out.