The Relationship between Skin Symptoms and Allergic Reactions to Asian Dust

Shinji Otani, Kazunari Onishi, Haosheng Mu, Yae Yokoyama, Takenobu Hosoda, Mikizo Okamoto and Youichi Kurozawa
Additional contact information
Shinji Otani: Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Tottori 680-0001, Japan
Kazunari Onishi: Japan Environment & Children's Study, The Center of Tottori Unit of the JECS, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Haosheng Mu: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Yae Yokoyama: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Takenobu Hosoda: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Mikizo Okamoto: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan
Youichi Kurozawa: Division of Health Administration and Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683-8503, Japan

IJERPH, 2012, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-9

Abstract: Asian dust events result from displacement of atmospheric pollutants from the Chinese and Mongolian deserts, causing associated health issues throughout Northeast Asia. We investigated the relationship between skin symptoms in Asian dust events and contact allergy to Asian dust and associated metals. Increases in atmospheric levels of heavy metals such as Ni, Al, and Fe occurred during the severe Asian dust event on March 21, 2010. We conducted a case–control study (n = 62) with patch testing to compare skin symptoms on an Asian dust day with metal allergic reactions. Skin symptoms were observed in 18/62 subjects. Nine subjects with skin symptoms (group A) and 11 without (group B) were patch tested for six metals and Asian dust particles. Metal and dust samples were applied to the subjects’ backs for 2 days and the reactions were scored according to the International Contact Dermatitis Research Group guidelines. Differences in the positive rates between the groups were analyzed. Skin reactions to ferric chloride ( p = 0.015), aluminum chloride ( p = 0.047), nickel sulfate ( p = 0.008), and Asian dust particles ( p = 0.047) were more common in group A than in group B. Skin symptoms during Asian dust events may be allergic reactions to Asian dust particle-bound metals.

Keywords: Asian dust; metal allergy; skin symptom; air pollutant; nickel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/12/4606/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/12/4606/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:12:p:4606-4614:d:22077

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().