Contact dermatitis in tobacco farmworkers

• Published in: Contact dermatitis Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 40 - 43
• Main Authors: Abraham, Nina F., Feldman, Steven R., Vallejos, Quirina, Whalley, Lara E., Brooks, Thanh, Cabral, Gonzalo, Earp, Patricia, Fleischer Jr, Alan B, Quandt, Sara A., Arcury, Thomas A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2007; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Agricultural Workers' Diseases - diagnosis; Agricultural Workers' Diseases - etiology; agromedicine; Allergic diseases; Biological and medical sciences; Dermatitis, Contact - etiology; farmworkers; Hispanic or Latino; Humans; Immunopathology; Latino/Hispanic; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nicotiana - adverse effects; North Carolina; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; occupational skin disease; Patch Tests; Plant poisons toxicology; Skin allergic diseases. Stinging insect allergies; tobacco farming; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; Transients and Migrants; United States; North America; America; North Carolina; USA, North Carolina; Human; Skin disease; Occupational disease; Toxicity; Latino/Hispanic; farmworkers; Occupational exposure; Latinamerican; Nicotiana tabacum; Ethnic group; Tobacco; tobacco farming; Contact dermatitis; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Race; agromedicine; occupational skin disease; Spermatophyta; Solanaceae; Cultivated plant; Farmer; Occupational medicine; Farming
• ISSN: 0105-1873; 1600-0536
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0536.2007.01148.x

Occupational skin disease is highly prevalent among agricultural workers. Tobacco cultivation and harvest are particularly hazardous for farmworkers. We report 5 migrant Latino farmworkers in North Carolina with contact dermatitis related to tobacco work. These cases show a characteristic distribution of contact dermatitis; the flexural and medial surfaces of the upper extremities were affected in each case, whereas most cases showed some involvement of the torso and axilla. This pattern most likely reflects a common occupational practice of holding the tobacco leaves under the arm and pressed against the body during harvesting.