Managing Laboratory Animal Allergens
There are many research disciplines that make use of animals. And if you work with laboratory research animals, you probably are aware that animal allergies are still one of the most common health hazards faced each day. Although this topic has garnered lots of research attention, allergic reactions, which are a result of immunological and biochemical mechanisms, are not totally understood. And so laboratory animal allergy (LAA) remains a serious occupational hazard. Did you know that approximately one-third of laboratory animal workers have an occupational allergy to animal danders?1 Or that one-third of that group have symptomatic asthma?1,2 In fact, about three-quarters of workers with preexisting allergic disease (referred to as the atopic risk group) eventually develop a laboratory animal allergy.2 Given these statistics and the potential seriousness, especially if LAA should progress to asthma, we thought it was time to provide some reminders for prevention.
Fonte: Labmanager
