Adhikari Asit, Sahu Subhashis, Bandyopadhyay Arghya, Blanc Paul D, Moitra Subhabrata
Ergonomics and Occupational Physiology Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India.
Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, India.
ERJ Open Res. 2015 Oct 6;1(2). doi: 10.1183/23120541.00023-2015. eCollection 2015 Oct.
Wood processing workers are exposed to wood-associated microbiological contaminants, including fungi. Our aim was to study the potential association between sputum fungus and adverse respiratory effects in such workers. In a group of sawmill workers, we administered a respiratory questionnaire, performed lung function testing and quantified the proportions of leukocytes in spontaneously expectorated sputum samples. We identified fungal species by DNA sequencing. Of 54 sawmill workers, 19 yielded fungal positive sputum samples (mean age 42.5±10.4 years) and 35 were negative for fungus (mean age 36.9±5.2 years). The fungus was identified as sp. in all samples. Those with fungal-positive sputum, compared to others, reported more cough (26% 63%) and haemoptysis (6% 37%) (both p<0.05), manifested reduced forced midexpiratory flow rates (FEF) (82.3±4.5 69.2±9.9% predicted, p<0.001), and had higher sputum eosinophil counts (median 9.25 3.25%, p<0.01). Reduction of FEF was associated both with fungus detection in sputum (-12.7%, 95% CI-8.5- -16.9%) and sputum eosinophils (-2.1% per 1% increase in eosinophils, 95% CI -1.5- -2.8%) (both p<0.001). In sawmill workers, sp. detectable in sputum was associated with respiratory symptoms, sputum eosinophilia and reduced FEF.
木材加工工人会接触到与木材相关的微生物污染物，包括真菌。我们的目的是研究此类工人痰液真菌与不良呼吸影响之间的潜在关联。在一组锯木厂工人中，我们发放了呼吸问卷，进行了肺功能测试，并对自发咳出的痰液样本中的白细胞比例进行了量化。我们通过DNA测序鉴定真菌种类。在54名锯木厂工人中，19人痰液样本真菌检测呈阳性（平均年龄42.5±10.4岁），35人真菌检测呈阴性（平均年龄36.9±5.2岁）。所有样本中的真菌均被鉴定为 菌属。与其他人相比，痰液真菌阳性者报告咳嗽（26%对63%）和咯血（6%对37%）的情况更多（均p<0.05），表现为用力呼气中期流速（FEF）降低（预计值82.3±4.5对69.2±9.9%，p<0.001），且痰液嗜酸性粒细胞计数更高（中位数9.25对3.25%，p<0.01）。FEF降低与痰液中真菌检测（-12.7%，95%CI -8.5至-16.9%）和痰液嗜酸性粒细胞（嗜酸性粒细胞每增加1%降低2.1%，95%CI -1.5至-2.8%）均相关（均p<0.001）。在锯木厂工人中，痰液中可检测到的 菌属与呼吸道症状、痰液嗜酸性粒细胞增多和FEF降低有关。
