1970 Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 182-187,234-23
In March, 1968 the authors found a patient with bronchial asthma among the workers dealt with "Bei-Sugi" in Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture. This finding led to the attempt to find asthmatic patients among the wood workers in the saw-mills in Ichinoseki City and Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture. Furthermore, some clinical examinations were performed to elucidate the etiology of this type of asthma on 15 asthmatic cases of woodworkers in both cities and 9 cases found in the out-patient clinic of our hospital. Results obtained were as follows. 1) The incidence of the asthma was 7.0% of 86 woodworkers in Ichinoseki City and 1.1% of 828 woodworkers in Noshiro City. The difference between both cities was thought to be due to the difference of the installation of their saw-mills. 2) Most patients above-mentioned had their own history or family history for allergic diseases. The majority developed the disease within 1 to 5 months after engaging in their work. 3) The "Beisugi" sawed in the saw-mills in both cities was proved histologically to be western red cedar. 4) The skin test, the inhalation test and Prausnitz-Kustner reaction were performed with the extract obtained from western red cedar. A positive reaction was found in 17 of 20 cases in the skin test, 15 of 18 cases in the inhalation test and 9 of 17 cases in Prausnitz-Kustner reaction. From the results above-mentioned the asthma occured in the workers dealt with "Beisugi" was considered to be an allergic inhalative one due to "Beisugi" (western red cedar) as an antigen.
