Hernberg S, Savilahti M, Ahlman K, Asp S
Br J Ind Med. 1966 Jul;23(3):204-9. doi: 10.1136/oem.23.3.204.
In 1955, a benzene mass-poisoning was detected in a shoe factory in Finland. One hundred and forty-seven persons were heavily exposed, and more than 100 had abnormal blood counts. One died and 10 required hospital treatment. This paper deals with a re-examination of the involved workers nine years later. One hundred and twenty-five persons attended for re-examination. Eight had died, two refused, and 11 could not be located. The possibility of death due to benzene poisoning having occurred among these persons was ruled out by checking the national death register. Each of the subjects underwent a haematological examination which included the haemoglobin value and the erythrocyte, reticulocyte, leucocyte, and thrombocyte counts. A differential count of the leucocytes was also made. A randomly chosen group of 86 persons served as a control group. The thrombocytes of the whole patient group and the erythrocytes of the men were significantly lower than those of the controls, whereas the leucocytes of the whole group and the erythrocytes of the women failed to show any statistical difference. In a multiple discriminant function analysis, considering all three counts at the same time, only the men differed slightly from the controls at the re-examination. The analysis also showed that the prognosis of the severe cases did not differ from that of the mild ones, provided the acute stage had been passed. Some illustrative case reports are added. One patient developed leukaemia after a latency of seven years, whereas most of the others—chosen because of grave symptoms in the initial stage—have recovered. The results are discussed from the point of view of prognosis.
1955年，芬兰一家鞋厂检测到苯集体中毒事件。147人受到严重暴露，100多人血液计数异常。1人死亡，10人需要住院治疗。本文讲述了9年后对这些受影响工人的复查情况。125人前来参加复查。8人已死亡，2人拒绝复查，11人无法找到。通过查阅国家死亡登记册排除了这些人中因苯中毒死亡的可能性。每位受试者都接受了血液学检查，包括血红蛋白值以及红细胞、网织红细胞、白细胞和血小板计数。还进行了白细胞分类计数。随机挑选86人组成对照组。整个患者组的血小板以及男性的红细胞明显低于对照组，而整个组的白细胞和女性的红细胞未显示出任何统计学差异。在多判别函数分析中，同时考虑所有三项计数，复查时只有男性与对照组略有不同。分析还表明，只要急性期已过，重症病例的预后与轻症病例并无差异。文中补充了一些典型病例报告。一名患者在接触苯7年后患白血病，而其他大多数患者（因初期症状严重而被挑选）已康复。从预后的角度对结果进行了讨论。
