One in six laboratory workers suffer from animal allergies

Over 16% of the researchers and employees that work in vivariums and laboratories develop allergies to the proteins that are shed in the urine, saliva or fur of the laboratory animals. Although their constant exposure to these allergens places these workers at risk of developing illnesses such as asthma, only 19.4% of workers routinely use protective masks.

By Karina Toledo

Agência FAPESP – Over 16% of the researchers and employees that work in vivariums and laboratories develop allergies to the proteins that are shed in the urine, saliva or fur of the laboratory animals. Although their constant exposure to these allergens places these workers at risk of developing illnesses such as asthma, only 19.4% of workers routinely use protective masks.

The data are part of a study performed at the Universidade de São Paulo’s Riberão Preto School of Medicine (FMRP/USP) that was coordinated by professor Elcio dos Santos Oliveira Vianna and financed by FAPESP.

The team studied 455 workers, including employees, trainees, undergraduates and post-graduate students, who interact directly with five animal species: rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and hamsters.

“In order to increase the breadth of the study, volunteers from laboratories and vivariums at USP Riberão Preto and the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) were also included,” said Vianna.

Another 387 workers from these two institutions were recruited to make up the control group. “In this case, we chose individuals who have minimal exposure to allergenic substances at work, such as administrative workers, drivers, and IT specialists,”.explained Vianna.

The scientists subjected volunteers from the two groups to skin tests to determine how many would react to common allergens, such as proteins from dust mites, molds, grass, dogs, cats and cockroaches. Subsequently, another skin test was performed with allergens from the five laboratory animals.

In the general allergy test, the two groups demonstrated similar sensitivity rates. However, in the test that was specific for laboratory animals, 16.4% of the exposed group was sensitive, compared with only 3% of the control group.

“These 16.4% are already allergic to laboratory animals and the longer they continue exposing themselves to this environment without adequate protection, the stronger their reaction will become. The first step is rhinitis, but the condition could eventually worsen to asthma,” said Vianna.

Respiratory allergies are the most common health issues in situations involving laboratory animals, as the proteins that are shed by the animals are suspended in the air and are eventually inhaled by workers.

“This is why the use of masks is so important in these cases, but only 19.4% of the volunteers say that they use this form of personal protection every time they handle animals,” said Vianna.

The use of gloves, however, was much more frequent, as 78% of the laboratory and vivarium workers said that they routinely wear gloves. Although personal protection equipment is available in almost all of the laboratories that were evaluated in the study, only 20% of the individuals in the exposed group said that they had received an orientation on the importance of using this equipment.

Prevention

“One of the objectives of our study is to evaluate the need for prevention programs in universities. In the future, we intend to propose certain methodologies and test whether they are effective,” said Vianna.

According to Vianna, the rate of sensitization was reduced to less than 1% in Germany by implementing both individual and environmental protection programs.

Data from an earlier study coordinated by Vianna and published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine indicated that 4% of young adults in Brazil between the ages of 23 and 25 have work-related asthma.

“The prevalence of asthma among overall population is 10%. We found that 4% of the young adults have asthma that either began or was worsened in the work environment and that 2.7% of these individuals developed asthma solely because of their work environment,” said Vianna.