Marcer G, Simioni L
Istituto di Medicina del Lavoro, Università di Padova.
Med Lav. 1992 Sep-Oct;83(5):428-34.
The incidence of occupational bronchial asthma (potroom asthma) among workers employed on electrolytic reduction of aluminium is between 0.4 and 4%. No precise etiological agent has been identified; irritating agents are usually blamed, especially fluoridric acid, dusts, and SO2. Nevertheless, some features of potroom asthma, such as the moderate prevalence, the latency period, the progressive increase in sensitivity with continuing exposure, the appearance of symptoms several hours after the beginning of the work shift, the persistence of symptoms and of aspecific bronchial hyperreactivity even after withdrawal from the working environment, suggest the possibility of occupational asthma due to sensitization. Knowledge of the pathogenetic mechanism has direct influence on prevention: in the case of asthma due to irritants it may be sufficient to comply with the TLV, while in the case of sensitization, even low levels of exposure can be sufficient to trigger off the symptoms of bronchial asthma.
在从事铝电解还原工作的工人中，职业性支气管哮喘（电解车间哮喘）的发病率在0.4%至4%之间。尚未确定确切的病原体；刺激性物质通常被认为是病因，尤其是氢氟酸、粉尘和二氧化硫。然而，电解车间哮喘的一些特征，如中等患病率、潜伏期、随着持续接触敏感性逐渐增加、工作班次开始数小时后出现症状、即使脱离工作环境后症状和非特异性支气管高反应性仍持续存在，提示存在因致敏引起职业性哮喘的可能性。对发病机制的了解对预防有直接影响：在刺激性物质引起的哮喘中，遵守阈限值可能就足够了，而在致敏的情况下，即使低水平接触也可能足以引发支气管哮喘症状。
