Irritant-induced airway disorders.

I Leonard Bernstein, Stuart M Brooks

Journal: Immunology and allergy clinics of North America 2012;31(4):747-68, vi

PMID: 21978855

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

Thousands of persons experience accidental high-level irritant exposures each year but most recover and few die. Irritants function differently than allergens because their actions proceed nonspecifically and by nonimmunologic mechanisms. For some individuals, the consequence of a single massive exposure to an irritant, gas, vapor or fume is persistent airway hyperresponsiveness and the clinical picture of asthma, referred to as reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS). Repeated irritant exposures may lead to chronic cough and continual airway hyperresponsiveness. Cases of asthma attributed to repeated irritant-exposures may be the result of genetic and/or host factors.

Address: Colleges of Public Health & Medicine, USF Health Science Center, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. [email protected]

DOI: 10.1016/j.iac.2011.07.002

Link outs

Free resources

Medical:

https://medlineplus.gov/occupationalhealth.html

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

MeSH Terms: Airway Remodeling, Allergens, Asthma, Occupational, Bronchial Hyperreactivity, Bronchiolitis Obliterans, Calcium Channels, Forced Expiratory Volume, Humans, Immunoglobulin E, Irritants, Methacholine Chloride, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Occupational Exposure, Peak Expiratory Flow Rate, Respiratory Distress Syndrome, TRPA1 Cation Channel, TRPV Cation Channels, Transient Receptor Potential Channels