Contact allergy to standard allergens among medical staff suffering from contact dermatitis of the region of Gdańsk

Between 1974-1998, 12 399 patch tests were made on 408 (379 female and 29 male) patients, medical staff of the region of Gdańsk. The patients were diagnosed before as contact dermatitis and suspected to be provoked by occupational factors, and tested in the Department of Occupational Skin Diseases of the Voivodship Outpatient Clinic of Cutaneous and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Gdańsk. The tested patients worked in 63 health care institutions. They included nurses (192), hospital attendants (62), medical doctors (32), dentists (39), medical technicians (26), dentist's assistants (22), dental technicians (10) and others. Positive patch tests in 361 (336 female and 25 male) patients were noted. The following standard allergens were observed: formalin (29.2%), nickel sulphate (21.92%), cobalt chloride (21.71%) and potassium dichromate (20.0%). In conclusion, formalin is the most frequent allergen for medical doctors and dental technicians; nickel for nurses, dentist's assistants and medical technicians; and cobalt chloride for medical technicians, dentist's assistants and dental technicians. Allergy to formalin, nickel, thiuram and mercury was significantly more frequent among medical staff than in the whole population of this region. A contact allergy to neomycin, chloramphenicol, anestesine, mercaptobensothiasole and nonox ZA was more frequent in the male population of medical staff than in the whole male population, which demonstrates occupational allergy to these allergens.