Cornelia
F. Mutel, Kelley J. Donham
NIOSH Education and Information Division
AUTHOR
ABSTRACT
Certain
rural occupations affect the health of employees in a distinctive
manner. Agricultural workers and other persons who work in
the farm environment or with raw farm products (such as farm
family members and employees of agricultural support businesses)
are exposed to threats from farm machinery, excessive sunlight
and heat, particulates and vapors that may be irritating,
toxic, or allergenic, farm structures (including silos and
animal confinement buildings) with abnormal air constituents, livestock, and pesticides. Resulting health problems include
accidents, heat stress, neurovascular degeneration of the
hands resulting from vibration, hearing loss, numerous respiratory
problems (such as asthma, farmer's lung, silo filler's disease,
and asphyxiation), infectious diseases transmitted from animals,
a variety of skin problems (including irritation, sensitization,
and infection), certain cancers, and pesticide poisonings
and injuries.
Loggers
are exposed to the hazards of working with large, heavy objects
and noisy, dangerous machinery in an outdoor environment.
Major health problems include numerous accidents, hearing
loss, and vibrational injury. Other health concerns include
exposure to toxic chemicals, cancer, infectious diseases transmitted
from the woods environment, and plant-induced skin and respiratory
systems reactions.
Underground
miners also suffer high accident rates resulting from falling
rock, electrical hazards, and mining machinery. Dust hazards
have been substantially reduced by wet drilling, but a number
of generalized respiratory responses to dusts and reactions
to specific mined materials (such as asbestos, mercury, and
uranium) still threaten miners. Gases and vapors may pose
direct problems because of their toxicity or, secondarily,
may cause fires and explosions. Other health concerns include
noise, heat, and carcinogenic substances.
Rural
physicians may be the de facto occupational health physicians
for these rural employees, as well as for employees of the
growing number of rural industries. This is but one of the
challenging roles available to the rural physician who remains
open to the health care needs of the total community. The
demands and rewards of such an extended role are described
in the next and last chapter.
SOURCE AND NATIONAL
LIBRARY OF MEDICINE ID#
SOURCE:
Mutel, Cornelia F.; Donham, Kelley J. Medical practice in
rural communities. New York, New York: Springer-Verlag; 1983:
77-115. ISBN: 0-387-91224.
NLOM ID#:
No ID#.
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and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not
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by permission of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
document was extracted from the CDC-NIOSH Epidemiology of
Farm Related Injuries: Bibliography With Abstracts, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service,
Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health.
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