搾油工場に発生したヒマ粕粉塵吸入による症候群

抄録

Some workers in a oil mill complained of acute conjunctival congestion, rhinorrhea and chill, as prodrome, from 30 min. to 3 hrs. after the exposure to castor bean dusts, and then they suffered from arthralgia and headache with fever, cough and sputum. Those who were exposed for short terms were attacked strongly with conjunctival congestion, rhinorrhea, chill and fever, while workers exposed for long were attacked mainly with expiratory dyspnea and cough. Within the term of exposure to the dust, leucocytosis with neutrophilia, albuminuria and excessive urobilinogen excretion in the urine were detected in many cases. Antibodies for allergen and promoting action to the hemagglutination by ricin were also detected in the serum of the workers. A month after the exposure, the tendency to an increase of eosinophils was observed. By animal experiment using rats it was found that the rectal temperature rose an hour after the intramuscular in jection of crude pomace extract or ricin. And, 24 hrs. after the injection, congestion and hypertrophy of liver, kidney and spleen, and congestion and hemorrhage in lung, brain, digestive canal, peritoneum, genital glands and adrenal glands were observed by dissection. In the serum of sensitized rats with ricin or allergen fraction, precipitation for the respective fraction was possitive. The ricin sensitized serum of the rats inhibited hemagglutination by ricin. The above results demonstrate that the acute conjunctival congestion, chill, fever, leucocytosis with neutrophilia, albuminuria and excessive urobilinogen in the urine have occurred as acute ricin in toxication by inhalation of castor bean dusts, and that the expiratory dyspnea and cough, attacked mainly on the long run exposed workers, have occurred by allergen inhalation after the sensitization.