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Occupational exposure to milk powder inhalation increases the risk of respiratory complaints, including wheezing, breathlessness and nasal symptoms, and reduces lung function. So reveals an original study undertaken in a Thai baby milk factory by a British team, due to be published in the forthcoming issue of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ), the peer-reviewed publication of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). Exposed workers need to be monitored to ensure timely identification of such hypersensitivity to milk powder, the authors recommend. It is already known that oral consumption of milk powder can lead to the development of an allergy in children intolerant to cow's milk proteins. The potential risks of inhaling milk powder have, however, never been studied specifically. This led Maritta Jaakkola and her team (Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom) to focus on the issue and analyse the effects of occupational exposure to milk powder via the airways. The study, undertaken jointly with Thailand's Mahidol University, covered 167 workers in a Thai baby milk factory. They included 130 workers involved directly in product manufacture and packaging, 22 responsible for adding vitamins to the milk and 15 quality controllers. By way of a control group, 76 office workers employed in this factory or in other Thai plants were also included in the study. A total of 142 men and 101 women were recruited, aged between 18 and 60 years. All of the participants were asked to complete a health questionnaire on respiratory, nasal, eye and skin symptoms experienced in the past twelve months. These data were complemented by systematic spirometric tests.
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