Læknablaðið - 01.03.2021, Side 24

136 L ÆK N A BL AÐIÐ 2021/107
R A N N S Ó K N
Diseases connected with work in hay have been known in Iceland for a long time.
In 1981 scientific studies of these diseases were started in Iceland at the request
of the Farmers Union. The results of these studies are summarized in this article.
In studies of hay a great amount of storage mites, moulds and thermophilic act-
inomycetes (microlyspora faeni) were found in addition to allergens from mice
and pollen. Symptoms caused by hay dust were mainly from nose and eyes
in people with positive skin tests, but cough, dyspnea and fever were equally
common in those with negative skin tests. The most common causes of allergy
in farming families were storage mites and cattle, but allergy to cats, dogs and
grass pollen were less common rurally than in the Reykjavik area.
When comparing individuals working in heavy hay dust with those working in
cleaner air, the former group had a higher likelihood of having a positive precipitin
test against micropolyspora faeni, fever after work in hay and airway obstruction.
It was shown that Icelandic farmers were more likely to get emphysema than
other people irrespective of smoking.
In a large study of homes in the Reykjavik area almost no mites were found. In
spite of this, positive specific IgE tests against dust mites were equally common
as in Uppsala, Sweden, where dust mites were found in 16% of homes. In further
studies it was found, that 57% of people in the study had been more and less
exposed to hay dust. They had either been raised on a farm, been on a farm in
the summer during childhood or owned horses and fed them with hay. We have
argued that cross allergy to storage mites may be the cause of a rather common
allergy to house dust mites.
A new study of middle-aged individuals has shown that allergy to storage
mites is a little more common in the Reykjavik area than in Aarhus, Bergen or
Uppsala. The most likely explanation is that they have more often been exposed
to hay dust.
E N G L I S H S U M M A R Y
Davíð Gíslason 1,2
Tryggvi Ásmundsson
Þórarinn Gíslason
Diseases connected with work in hay in Iceland
Causes and scientific studies
1Landspitali University Hospital, 2Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland
Correspondence: Davíð Gíslason, davidgis@simnet.is
Key words: Iceland, hay, hay allergens, storage mites, precipitin tests.
doi 10.17992/lbl.2021.03.626