One of the problems with Occupational Hygiene is that the advances, particularly in molecular biology, make keeping up with occupational diseases very difficult, particularly as hygienists have to cover such a wide range of diseases. These advances are rarely reflected in the mainstream occupational hygiene journals. The advances in understanding asthma are one case in point.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has just published a paper (31 August 2011)
- Kraft, M. (2011). “Asthma Phenotypes and Interleukin-13 – Moving Closer to Personalized Medicine.” New England Journal of Medicine.
A beautiful picture accompanies the article and illustrates the complexities of the cellular interactions. I hope that close study of the article will highlight the gaps in my knowledge in applying it to occupational exposures and their control.
