Occupational sensitization to allergens in workers exposed to wheat flour dust
Keywords:
Mites; Wheat Flour; immunologic sensitizationAbstract
Introduction: Wheat flour dust can cause sensitization, allergic rhinitis and occupational asthma among bakers and millers. In Cuba, there are very few studies on workers at wheat flour mills.
Objective: To determine allergen sensitization among workers at a wheat flour mill in Havana.
Methods: An observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was conducted. It included 77 workers who consented to participate in the research. All participants underwent a standardized survey and skin prick tests using seven allergenic extracts.
Results: Male predominance was observed (77.9 %), with a mean age of 39.3 years. Active smoking was reported by 22.1 % of the workers, while 72.7 % reported at least one respiratory condition. Allergic rhinitis was the most prevalent (37.7 %), followed by its association with asthma (18.2 %). In addition, 74 % showed a positive prick test to at least one allergen, with the number of sensitized cases being higher in the group with 10 or more years of exposure (92.3 %). Workers showed the highest rates of sensitization to dust mites. Wheat flour sensitization was present in 10.8 % of the workers. Polysensitization prevailed, and dust mites produced the largest wheal sizes.
Conclusions: There is an increase in sensitization to allergens in the work environment, correlated with years of exposure. Detecting sensitization to workplace allergens allows for the implementation of specific treatments and the prevention of disease onset.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dignalvis Aldama Patterson, Ibis Ávila Roque, Iosmailly Gómez Alvarez, Raúl Castro Almarales, Belkis López González, Mirta Alvarez Castelló
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