Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Case Report

A Case of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a Worker Treating Pesticide Wastes: Soon Choy, Jung Won Kim; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2011;23(4):480-487. Published online December 31, 2011; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2011.23.4.480

BACKGROUND
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease involving the motor neuron of the cerebrum, brain stem, and spinal cord. It has been suggested that various occupational or environmental agents could be a cause of ALS. We report upon a case of a person contracting ALS who experienced a long-time exposure to pesticides, implying that pesticides are probable causal agents of ALS.
CASE REPORTS
The patient has been experiencing shoulder pain and limitation of movement that started abruptly about three years ago. Over time, these symptoms have become aggravated despite ongoing therapies including medication. After two years, he was diagnosed with ALS through electromyography, nerve conduction velocity and many laboratory tests at a university hospital in Seoul. His social and medical history was non-specific. The patient had worked for about 15 years at a waste disposal site and mainly destroyed glass bottles containing pesticides. During this period, his respiratory tract and skin were exposed to various raw pesticides without appropriate personal protective equipment. He did this job one or two times a week and worked for two or more hours without a break. Through an investigation into the patient's working environment, significant levels of dichlorvos, one of the organophosphates, were detected.
CONCLUSIONS
The study results revealed that the patient was exposed to considerable doses of pesticides as opposed to men spraying pesticides. Although controversial, pesticide exposures have been associated with ALS. However, we suggest that in this case the possibility that these pesticide exposures acted as a causal agent for the diagnosed ALS based on plausible biological mechanisms and epidemiologic data.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Agricultural Environments: A Systematic Review
Hyun Kang, Eun Shil Cha, Geun Joo Choi, Won Jin Lee
Journal of Korean Medical Science.2014; 29(12): 1610. CrossRef
Pesticides and human chronic diseases: Evidences, mechanisms, and perspectives
Sara Mostafalou, Mohammad Abdollahi
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.2013; 268(2): 157. CrossRef

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Original Article

Use of Screening Dose to Evaluate the Work-relatedness of Cancers Occurring among Korean Radiation Workers: Meeseon Jeong, Young Woo Jin, Hyun Sul Lim, Chong Soon Kim; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2007;19(3):196-203. Published online September 30, 2007; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2007.19.3.196

Abstract PDF

OBJECTIVES
To propose a screening dose based on the probability of causation (PC) to simplify the evaluation procedure for the work-relatedness of the cancers occurring among Korean radiation workers.
METHODS
Under the PC uncertainty distribution, the screening dose was defined in which the maximum PC is equivalent to 50% for single exposure to radiation, after which the values were calculated according to three significance levels: 90%, 95%, and 99%. By using the screening doses for each cancer, we also predicted the number of compensations for the occupational cancers among the current Korean radiation workers to determine a reasonable criterion for the significance level.
RESULTS
If the cumulative dose received by a radiation worker with cancer is less than the screening dose, then PC can not be greater than 50%, i.e., the case can not be awarded as an occupational disease. The numbers of compensation cases for a future decade were predicted to be 3-5, 4-6, and 6-10 at the significance levels of 90%, 95%, and 99%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
The procedure to evaluate the occupational disease was greatly simplified by using the screening dose for evaluation. A criterion of 95% was recommended as the PC upper limit following consideration for the results of the predicted cases for compensation and the economic circumstances in Korea.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

The work-relatedness at a case of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a radiation oncologist
Bong Hyun Kim, Young-Jun Kwon, Young-Su Ju, Bong Kyu Kim, Hyun Seok Lee, Sang-gil Lee, Yun Kyung Chung
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2017;[Epub] CrossRef
A case of chronic myeloid leukemia in a diagnostic radiographer
Chulyong Park, Sungyeul Choi, Dohyung Kim, Jaechan Park, Saerom Lee
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2014;[Epub] CrossRef
Ionizing Radiation-induced Diseases in Korea
Young-Woo Jin, Meeseon Jeong, Kieun Moon, Min-Heui Jo, Seong-Kyu Kang
Journal of Korean Medical Science.2010; 25(Suppl): S70. CrossRef
Health Disorders Caused by Physical Factors among Health Care Workers - Focusing on Ionizing Radiation -
Hyun-Sul Lim
Journal of the Korean Medical Association.2010; 53(6): 483. CrossRef

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