Skin diseases affecting a population occupationally exposed to terrestrial fauna and flora in Brittany over a 15-year period

Abstract

Introduction and objective Brittany is the leading agricultural production region of France where many workers are exposed to the local flora and fauna. The aim of the study is to describe the different skin diseases found among the workers occupationally exposed to the terrestrial fauna and flora in Brittany, and to assess the possible over-representation of some work environments. Material and methods This was a retrospective, descriptive study carried out between 1 October 2002 – 30 April 2017, based on the coding of files from a multi-disciplinary occupational dermatology clinic at the Brest University Hospital Results The study population of 84 patients was drawn from a total 788 patients seen during this period. Allergic contact dermatitis was the most frequently coded diagnosis with 35 cases (42%). There were 13 cases of irritant contact dermatitis (15%). Infectious diseases were poorly represented with only 5 cases (6%).The 6 most frequently represented occupations were packers in the agri-food industry (12.0%), cattle farmers and tomato greenhouse workers (both 10.7%), maintenance workers of parks and gardens (9.5%), agri-food factory cleaning operatives (8.3%) and pig farmers (7.1%). Conclusions There was a marked incidence of allergic contact dermatitis and irritative contact dermatitis, mostly occupational in origin. While no specific diseases were found among these workers, some of the allergens and irritants identified may be specific to certain work environments. Overall, there did not seem to be a major risk of occupational dermatoses among workers exposed to Brittany’s terrestrial fauna and flora in this population, compared with other professional sectors, such as hairdressing or care work. The incidence rate of the cases of occupational skin diseases in this population is assessed from 3 – 5 cases per 100,000 workers.

Keywords

• dermatitis
• occupational disease
• environmental exposure
• agriculture