[Pustular dermatitis in veterinarians following delivery in farm animals; an occupational disease].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of contact dermatitis after deliveries in cattle or sheep among veterinarians. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: Provinces of Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe, The Netherlands. METHODS: By means of a short inquiry 310 veterinarians were asked whether and how often they had experienced pustular dermatitis after deliveries in cattle and sheep and what course the dermatitis had run. They were also asked about details of the deliveries (type of animal, condition of the foetus, course of the partus), about microbiological investigation, preventive measurements and therapy. RESULTS: The response to the questionnaires was 24.5%. One or more episodes of pustular dermatitis on an arm after a delivery in cattle or sheep was noticed by 62 (81.5%) of the 76 respondents. Sometimes it was associated with secondary symptoms like headache, fever and lymphadenitis. Listeria monocytogenes (7 times out of 13) and Salmonella dublin (4/13) were the agents cultured most often. CONCLUSION: Contact dermatitis after deliveries in cattle or sheep occurs frequently as an occupational disease of veterinarians.