Short communication, Note
Skin teleangiectasias, heavy sweating and diffuse itching in aluminium potroom workers
J. Balić
; Medicinski centar Šibenik, Šibenik, Hrvatska
A. Kansky
; Klinika za kožne i spolne bolesti Medicinskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Šalata, Zagreb, Hrvatska
A. Wolf
; Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Abstract
Aluminium potroom workers are exposed to toxic effects of numerous technological resources. The most abundant and the most adngerous are fluorine and its compounds, especially hydrofluoride, which has toxic effects upon the body as a whole. Skin teleangiectasias develop as a result of these effects in a considerable number of workers, whereas heavy sweating and diffuse itching are less common. The paper deals with the results of a study carried out among 122 workers working in the electrolytic extraction of aluminium, 119 aluminium rolling mill workers and 121 non-exposed transportation workers. Teleangiectasias were found in 47 per cent of the examined electrolysis workers. Their percentage in rolling mill workers was significantly smaller (16%) and comparable to the one in transportation workers (14%). The percentage of teleangiectasias tended to increase with the duration of exposure. Another symptom present among the electrolysis workers was skin diching and heavy sweating which was probably a result of increased exposure to fluorides. The phenomenon seems to have been reversible because it tended to disappear after a short leave of absence from the workplace. Several features of skin teleangiectasias, which can be observed objectively, indicate that they are fully dependent on the concentration of fluorides released into the work atmosphere as well as on exposure time. Objective observation is not possible in cases of heavy sweating and diffuse Itching but there exist strong indications of the relation with fluorides, especially a spontaneous regression during a 7-10-day sick-leave.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
153786
URI
Publication date:
30.6.1987.
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