Study on Respiratory Diseases Caused by Farm Work (Farmer's Lung etc): Pollinosis in Rural Area in Nagano Prefecture

From our survey of respiratory diseases in rural district, we concluded as follows: 1). Prevalence of positive antibody fiter to Thermophilic actinomyces in farmers of one village was 19.4%. 2). Alternaria is one of the most important mold antigen to asthma in rural area. Specific IgE antibody to Alternaria was identified in sera of many patients suffering from asthmatic attack in summer season. 3). Pollinosis in Nagano Prefecture a). A check of patients by age reveals that the incidence is high among people at ages 20-40. b). A check of the distrbution of patients by month indicates that the incidences are concentrated during the period of March through October, and this period is classifiable into three seasons-spring tree season, summer grass season and autumn weed season. c). According to our survey on atomospheric pollen, Japanese cedar, alder, Japanese birch, zercova, walnut, oak family and white mulberry were found in tree season, meadow foxtail, orchard grass, timothy andrice in grass season and ragweed, common mugwort, chrysanthemum, Japanese hop and smooth pigweed in weed season. Of all hayfever plants, Japanese cedar, orchard grass and common mugwort have high antigenicity. d). We discussed the findings of the survey we have performed on a number of cases of six pollinosis-Japanese birch, walnut, apple, orchard grass, ragweed and common mugwort.