경기 일부 지역 양돈 축산인들의 호흡기 알레르기 관련 면역학적 지표 분석

Objectives: Animal husbandry workers could be exposed to various work hazards including toxic gases, chemicals such as pesticides or organic dust. Immunological evaluation focusing on respiratory allergic hypersensitivity occurrence was undertaken for swine farm workers as a part of the study on immunologic status of dairy barn, swine confinement, and poultry farm workers. Materials aanndd Methods: Peripheral bloods were collected from 25 workers at the year of 2001 and 12 workers at the year of 2012 from swine farms located at Gyeonggi province, Korea. Seven adults not involved with animal husbandry were recruited at the year of 2001 from the same residential area as the swine farm workers`. Level of plasma IgE and 20 respiratory allergen-specific IgE were evaluated using commercially available ELISA kit. Results: Plasma IgE level was approximately five-fold higher in the swine farm workers regardless of the sampling year than the control subjects. Plant allergens from outdoor environments such as golden rod, pigweed, Russian thistle, or ragweed were the major allergens with positive reaction(allergen specific IgE≥0.7 IU/mL) for the swine farm workers at 2001 year. Meanwhile, house dust mite(Dermatophagoides farinae, D. pteronyssinus) and cockroach, typical indoor allergens in Korea, were the major respiratory allergens for the swine farm workers at 2012 year. Conclusions: Overall, even though our results are primitive, the results suggest that immunological function of swine farm workers could be modulated toward type-2 reactivity.