Professional Allergies to Disinfectants

Czech version

Authors: K. Boušová ¹; J. Vaněčková ²; I. Krčmová ³
Authors‘ workplace: Klinika nemocí z povolání, Lékařská fakulta UK a Fakultní nemocnice v Hradci Králové přednosta Doc. MUDr. Jiří Chaloupka, CSc. ¹; Klinika nemocí kožních a pohlavních, Lékařská fakulta UK a Fakultní nemocnice v Hradci Králové přednosta Doc. MUDr. Karel Ettler, CSc. ²; Ústav klinické imunologie a alergologie, Lékařská fakulta UK a Fakultní nemocnice v Hradci Králové přednosta Prof. RNDr. Jan Krejsek, CSc. ³
Published in: Pracov. Lék., 60, 2008, No. 2, s. 61-67.
Category: Original Papers

Overview

Chemical disinfectants of skin, instruments and areas may cause diseases of skin and mucosa of airways. Health care professionals, mainly the workers of endoscopic, surgical and dialysis departments, are especially endangered by a professional impairment. Disinfectants affect skin and cause the development of irritation dermatitis and contact allergic eczema, less often contact urticaria. Irritation or allergic asthma bronchiale, rhinitis and conjuctivitis, rarely a syndrome of reactive respiratory dysfunction, very rarely irritation dysfunction of vocal cords develop by inhalation. The paper presents the basic classification of chemical disinfectants; glutaraldehyde is one of the most important ones in which the mechanism in relation to the development of asthma has not been discovered yet – the same type of an allergic reaction is presumed as in the case of diisocyanates (low-mollecular compounds). The Clinic of Occupational Diseases of the Teaching Hospital in Hradec Králové reported in 1996–2006 altogether 31 professional skin diseases caused by disinfectants (29 contact allergic eczemas, 2 irritation dermatitis) containing mainly glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, glyoxale, hexachlorophene, isopropylalcohol, chlorhexidingluconate, peracetic acid, etc. Then, 9 professional diseases of airways, i.e. 8 asthma bronchiale and/or rhinitis (the most common causal agents were peracetic acid and glutaraldehyde) and one acute irritation of airways by a cleansing agent containing chlorine were reported in the above mentioned period. The authors present the results of control examination of the reported sample of patients from 2006–2007. Recommendations for increasing safety when using disinfectants are summarized in the conclusion.

Key words:
disinfectants, allergies to disinfectants, professional allergies, occupational diseases in the health care system

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Labels

Hygiene and epidemiology Hyperbaric medicine Occupational medicine

Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases in Selected Professions

Professional Health Impairments in Women Reported in the Czech Republic between 2001 and 2006

Allergic Bronchopulmonal Aspergillosis as an Occupational Disease

Article was published in

Occupational Medicine

2008 Issue 2