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HEALTH HAZARDS IN AGRICULTURE - A FOCUS ON BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS

Learn about hazardous biological agents in agriculture, exposure settings, health effects, and preventive measures to minimize risks to workers. Understand common categories and examples of biological hazards in farming.

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HEALTH HAZARDS IN AGRICULTURE - A FOCUS ON BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS

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  1. HEALTH HAZARDS IN AGRICULTURE - A FOCUS ON BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS Professor Mohamed Fareed Jeebhay Occupational and Environmental Health Research UnitSchool of Public Health and Family MedicineFaculty of Health Sciences - University of Cape Town

  2. OUTLINE • What is a hazardous biological agent (HBA)? • Major categories of biological agents of natural origin and some examples • Common agricultural settings with exposure to HBA • Major mechanisms through which HBA cause health problems • Major health effects and occupational diseases caused by HBA

  3. WHAT IS A HAZARDOUS BIOLOGICAL AGENT (HBA)? Any cell (plant, animal, human), micro-organism or cell culture of natural origin or genetically engineered that constitutes a risk to human health

  4. MAJOR CATEGORIES OF BIOLOGICAL AGENTS OF NATURAL ORIGIN

  5. SECTOR Agriculture Agricultural products Sewage & waste disposal EXAMPLES Cultivating, harvesting, forestry Breeding and tending animals, fishing Abattoirs, food processing plants Storage facilities: grain silos, cotton, tobacco Processing animal hair, leather, silk Textile plants, sawmills, paper-mills Waste removal, treatment plants COMMON AGRICULTURAL SETTINGS WITH EXPOSURE TO HBA

  6. Cotton workers: cotton dust contaminated with endotoxin

  7. Grain harvesting and milling workers: grain dust, storage mites, beetles, mealworm

  8. Fruit farm workers: spider mite, predator mites, pollen

  9. SOME EXAMPLES Bird handlers: feathers, droppings, mites, bacteria

  10. Fishermen and fish processing workers: fish protein (blood, guts, muscle), Anisakis parasite, fishmeal dust

  11. sewer workers: bacteria sheep workers: bacteria

  12. BIOLOGICAL HAZARD VS RISK The “HAZARD” refers to the environmental stressors which have a capacity to do harm (bacteria, virus, toxin, etc.). The term “RISK” introduces an element of likelihood or possibility that the harmful event may take place Therefore for there to be a risk, there has to be “EXPOSURE” (potential or actual) to the harmful biological agent

  13. CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE Environmental factors - route of exposure: inhalation, direct skin contact, (ingestion) - dose and duration of exposure Host-associated factors- atopy- smoking- genetic (e.g. HLA-type)

  14. MECHANISMS BY WHICH HBA CAUSE HEALTH EFFECTS

  15. OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES DUE TO HBA

  16. AGRICULTURAL RESPIRATORY DISEASE

  17. Allergy to common allergens Allergy to grain dust: wheat, rye; and common allergens

  18. ASTHMA AND CHRONIC BRONCHITIS

  19. Induction and effector mechanisms in IgE-mediated hypersensitivity for allergic asthma (Lehrer SB et al; Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 1996)

  20. Natural history of occupational asthma

  21. EXTRINSIC ALLERGIC ALVEOLITIS/ HYPERSENSITIVITY PNEUMONITIS

  22. SKIN ALLERGY Dermatitis/eczema Urticaria/”bommels”/wheals

  23. INFECTIONS/ZOONOSIS Anthrax: skin “eschar” Malaria - mosquitoe bite

  24. MAIN MESSAGES • Biological hazards are a major problem in agricultural production • Occupational lung diseases (asthma, chronic bronchitis, pneumonitis) due to inhalation of organic dust are a common problem encountered among agricultural workers

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