March 2020 additions to NERDB

NERDB is the New and emerging risks database. This bibliographic database is an initiative of Nicole Palmen and Annet Lenderink with the support of Modernet and is currently powered by Airtable.

More information on this database on the NERDB page

On the website we will publish from this month on regular updates on new disease – exposure combinations we added to the database. Currently, we have 224 entries. Ordered by year in which the abstract is published

1977	1	2010	11
1988	1	2011	10
1995	3	2012	10
1997	1	2013	13
1999	2	2014	19
2002	1	2015	27
2005	2	2016	21
2006	1	2017	35
2007	2	2018	29
2008	5	2019	26
2009	3	unknown year	6

Last new entries

Gil F, Rato M, Monteiro A, Parente J, Aranha J. Occupational lichenoid allergic contact dermatitis caused by tin. Contact Dermatitis. 2019;81:71–73

A 30-year-old male, with an unremarkable medical history, presented with a pruritic skin eruption that had lasted for 3 weeks. The patient reported that the dermatosis had begun 4 weeks after he had started to work full-time in a tin-smelting factory.   In the factory, he worked at high temperatures and was exposed to tin contaminated dust in a poorly ventilated space, without protective equipment. He reported improvement with topical corticosteroids and oral antihistamines, especially during the periods when he was not working.  In patch testing, the only positive reaction was to tin. Based on this the diagnosis of occupational allergic contact dermatitis caused by tin was made. Topical methylprednisolone aceponate was prescribed, and the patient was advised to change his working conditions. He started operating at lower temperatures and became significantly less exposed to tin oxide fumes and dusts, resulting in a clear improvement of his dermatosis. Although allergic reactions have been described, there are scarce reports of established allergic contact dermatitis caused by tin.

Raison-Peyron N, Roulet A, Dereure O. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis caused by sulfite in a seafood section worker of a supermarket. Contact Dermatitis. 2019;80:391–393.

A 56-year-old female patient was referred for itchy face dermatitis of a few months’ duration. She had been employed in the seafood section of a supermarket for the past 3 years and had noticed flares of her facial inflammatory lesions whenever she handled cooked shrimps with PVC gloves and put them on ice. All patch tests gave negative results, except for nickel sulfate, sodium metabisulfite, and the cream Ketoderm, which contains anhydrous sodium sulfite. Relocation to the delicatessen department of the same supermarket resulted in the disappearance of facial inflammatory flares, with no recurrence after 18 months of follow-up. To conclude, our patient very likely developed airborne allergic contact dermatitis caused by sulfites after previous skin contact and sensitization to sulfites contained in the antifungal cream Ketoderm. The absence of lesions on the hands is explained by the use of vinyl gloves at work.

Muttray, A., Wolters, V. & Rose, D. Blue–yellow dyschromatopsia in toluene-exposed workers. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 92, 699–707 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-019-01405-8

The purpose is to evaluate the effects of chronic occupational exposure to toluene on color vision. To research, color vision was tested in 51 workers exposed to pure toluene and in 51 matched control subjects. Current exposure was determined by biological monitoring. Blood samples were taken at the end of a Friday shift. Color vision ability was assessed using the Ishihara plates (to screen for congenital dyschromatopsia), the Farnsworth panel D-15 test, the Lanthony panel D-15 desaturated test, the Velhagen plates, and the Standard Pseudoisochromatic Plates Part 2.

Results: Median toluene concentration was 1.59 mg/l (quartiles 0.78 and 2.65). The whole group of workers did not perform worse than the controls. The same applies to 20 printers, who regularly assessed hues. Assessed with the most sensitive Lanthony panel D-15 desaturated test, the color vision of 24 permanently exposed assistants was impaired (median color confusion index of the 1st eyes 1.08 vs. 1.02, p < 0.02; 2nd eyes 1.08 vs. 1.0, p < 0.05; sign test). The assistants made almost exclusively blue–yellow errors. The other color vision tests did not reveal any differences between the groups. The authors conclude that changes in the retina are a possible explanation for the observed blue–yellow dyschromatopsia