• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.309-315
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• 2012

Objectives: Animal husbandry workers could be exposed to various work hazards including toxic gases, chemicals such as pesticides or organic dust. Immunological evaluation focusing on respiratory allergic hypersensitivity occurrence was under-taken for swine farm workers as a part of the study on immunologic status of dairy barn, swine confinement, and poultry farm workers. Materials and Methods: Peripheral bloods were collected from 25 workers at the year of 2001 and 12 workers at the year of 2012 from swine farms located at Gyeonggi province, Korea. Seven adults not involved with animal husbandry were recruited at the year of 2001 from the same residential area as the swine farm workers'. Level of plasma IgE and 20 respiratory allergen-specific IgE were evaluated using commercially available ELISA kit. Results: Plasma IgE level was approximately five-fold higher in the swine farm workers regardless of the sampling year than the control subjects. Plant allergens from outdoor environments such as golden rod, pigweed, Russian thistle, or ragweed were the major allergens with positive reaction(allergen specific IgE${\geq}$0.7 IU/mL) for the swine farm workers at 2001 year. Meanwhile, house dust mite(Dermatophagoides farinae, D. pteronyssinus) and cockroach, typical indoor allergens in Korea, were the major respiratory allergens for the swine farm workers at 2012 year. Conclusions: Overall, even though our results are primitive, the results suggest that immunological function of swine farm workers could be modulated toward type-2 reactivity.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.369-373
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• 2008

The indoor environment is an important source of exposure to various aeroallergens and pathogenic microorganism. It has been shown that exposure to aeroallergens enhances the risk of indoor inhabitants developing asthma. Since the skin prick test, a typical clinical method for identification of subjects positive to allergens, can rarely cause fatal or non-fatal reactions in susceptible persons, an in vitro assay such as ELISA using serum has been considered for testing positivity against various allergens. We evaluated the validity of a serum ELISA kit for screening positive subjects to major aeroallergens including Dermatophagoides farinae, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, cockroach, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Penicillium, dog hair, cat fur, mugwort, and ragweed. The ELISA results were compared with the skin prick test results, and sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy were calculated to each allergen. Higher sensitivities were obtained from D. farinae, (77.8%) and D. pteronyssinus (69.2%), but sensitivities to Aspergillus, Penicillium, dog hair, cat fur, and ragweed were very low down to 0%. Specificity ranged from 88.7% (cat fur) to 100% (mugwort and ragweed). Overall the accuracy of the serum ELISA kit was relatively high, in that the lowest was 85.1% for cat fur and the highest was 98.6% for Alternaria, Cladosporium, and ragweed. Considering specificity and overall accuracy for the serum ELISA kit, it may be considered reliable. However, when the kit is used for screening purpose, positivity to aeroallergens should be carefully determined since sensitivity for the kit is low.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.719-723
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• 2006

House dust mite was the most important cause of allergic asthma and rhinitis. More than 70% of Korean children and about 50% of adult with respiratory allergy were sensitive to house dust mite. This experiment was indoor environment in house and house dust mite existence inquiry. From 23rd December 2005 to 28th February 2006, dust samples were collected from the bedclothes by a vacuum cleaner and air sampler And the levels of Der f1 and Der p1 were determined by ELISA((Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay). The results were as follows : 1 The dust mites allergy contaminations of bedclothes in house were higher than international standards(2000 ng/g). 2. In type of dust mite, the Korean house the almost have the D. farinae other than D. pteronyeeinus of mite. 3. The Der f1 and Der p1 levels per gram of dust from the bedclothes were 2074.99 ng on average, but they did not exist in air. The concentrations of house dust mite were significantly high in the bedclothes. This results suggest that the bedclothes have enough concentrations of dust mites to develop the sensitization. The control of indoor environment should be emphasized to prevent the sensitization by the repeated exposure to dust mite.