Occupational Asthma in a Pulmonary Functions Laboratory

Excerpt

To the Editor: In response to a recent paper by Drs. Kern and Frumkin (1), I report an ironic consequence of environmental lung disease research. Recently two of three research associates doing methacholine challenges at our institution for clinical research projects reported symptoms suggestive of an occupational asthma syndrome.

Initially, one research associate reported feeling sympathetic, bronchospastic symptoms along with the research subjects. When the other two research associates were queried, one reported similar chest tightness after doing methacholine challenges. This second person also described nasal congestion, sneezing, and chest tightness on challenge-testing subjects for various inhalational antigens (ragweed and