Abstract
Aerial prevalence of clinically important thermophilic actinomycetes and occurrence of precipitating antibodies against them in sera of 153 exposed workers have been reported. The study was carried out in two cane sugar mills namely, the Upper Doab Sugar Mills and the Ramala Sugar Mills, located in north-west India. In both the sugar mills,T. sacchari was the predominant species, it accounted for 55.1% and 50.3% of the total population of thermophilic actinomycetes, followed byT. vulgaris (19.7% and 23.7%),T. thalpophilus (21.1% and 17.1%),Saccharomonospora viridis (3.4% and 5.0%) andSaccharopolyspora rectivirgula (Faenia rectivirgula) (0.7% and 3.9%), respectively. Precipitating antibodies against thermophilic actinomycetes were demonstrable in 34 (22.2%) workers;T. sacchari alone accounted for 20 of the positive precipitin reactions, followed byS. rectivirgula in 10. The mean absorbance values for IgG antibody activity againstT. sacchari as well asS. rectivirgula were found to be elevated significantly in the symptomatic workers than in the asymptomatic workers (p<0.05) or unexposed controls (p<0.001). However, the difference in IgG antibody activity was insignificant between precipitin-positive symptomatic workers and precipitin-positive asymptomatic workers. The results indicate that clinically important thermophilic actinomycetes are widely prevalent in cane sugar mills, andT. sacchari andS. rectivirgula are the major species involved in the sensitization of the bagasse workers in India.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boiron P, Puel B, Drouhet E, Mariat F & Martinez-Machin G (1985) (Microbiological and serological study of bagassosis in La Reunion: preliminary study). Etude microbiologique de la bagasse dans l'Ile de la Réunion Etude préliminaire. Bull. Soc. Fr. Mycol. Med. 14: 111–118
Boiron P, Drouhet E & Dupont B (1987) Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for IgG in bagasse workers sera: comparison with counter-immunoelectrophoresis. Clin. Allergy 17: 355–363
Burrell R & Rylander R (1981) A critical review on the role of precipitins in hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Eur. J. Resp. Dis. 62: 332–343
Fasani F, Bossi A & Garamia V (1987) Double diffusion and ELISA for the detection of IgG and IgM antibodies againstMicropolyspora faeni. Ann. Allergy 59: 451–454
Ganguly SK & Pal SC (1955) Early bagassosis. J. Indian Med. Assoc. 24: 253–255
Gangwar M, Khan ZU, Randhawa HS & Lacey J (1989) Distribution of clinically important thermophilic actinomycetes in vegetable substrates and soil in north-western India. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 56: 201–209
Gangwar M, Khan ZU & Randhawa HS (1991) Occurrence and significance of precipitating antibodies against thermophilic actinomycetes in the sera of dairy herd workers, Nangali, Delhi. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 59: 167–175
Gruchow HW, Hoffman RG, Marx JJ Jr, Emanuel DA & Rimm AA (1981) Precipitating antibodies of farmer's lung antigens in a Wisconsin farming population. Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 124: 411–415
Herbert J, Beaudon J, Laviolette M, Beaudoin R, Belanger J & Cormier Y (1985) Absence of correlation between the degree of alveolitis and antibody levels toMicropolyspora faeni. Clin. Exptl. Biol. 60: 572–578
Katila ML & Mantyjarvi RA (1978) The diagnostic value of antibodies to the traditional antigens of farmer's lung in Finland. Clin. Allergy 8: 581–587
Khan ZU, Misra VC & Randhwa HS (1985) Precipitating antibodies againstMicropolyspora faeni in equines in north-western India. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 51: 313–319
Konishi K, Murakami S, Kukubu K, Itoh H, Mouri T & Tamura M (1985) Determination by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of specific IgG antibody activities for diagnosis of farmer's lung diseases. Tohoku J. Exp. Med. 147: 135–144
Kurup VP & Fink JN (1975) A scheme for identification of thermophilic actinomycetes associated with hypersensitivity pneumonitis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2: 55–61
Lacey J (1974) Moulding of sugar-cane bagasse and its prevention. Ann. Appl. Biol. 76: 63–67
Lacey J & Crook B (1988) Fungal and actinomycetes spores as pollutants of the work-place and occupational allergens. Ann. Occup. Hyg. 32: 515–533
Marx JJ & Gray RL (1982) Comparison of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and double immunodiffusion test for the detection and quantitation of antibodies in farmer's lung disease. J. Clin. Immunol. 70: 109–115
Pagan EF (1985) Epidemiology of bagassosis and other hypersensitivity pneumonitides. Microbiology (pp 183–186) American Society of Microbiology Publication
Pether JVS & Greatorex FB (1976) Farmer's lung in Somerset. Br. J. Ind. Med. 33: 265–268
Pico GA do, Reddan WG, Chmelik F, Peters ME, Reed CE & Rankin J (1976) The value of precipitating antibodies in screening for hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Am. Rev. Resp. Dis. 113: 451–455
Roberts RC, Wenzel FJ & Emmanuel DS (1976) Precipitating antibodies in a midwest dairy farming population towards the antigen associated with farmer's lung disease. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 57: 518–524
Singh JN (1955) Bagassosis. J. Indian Med. Assoc. 25: 304–307
Terho EO & Lacey J (1979) Microbiological and serological studies of farmer's lung in Finland. Clin. Allergy 9: 43–52
Viswanathan R, Monte AJH de, Shivpuri DN, Venkitasubramanian TA, Tandon HD, Chandrasekhar S, Jain SK, Gupta IM, Singh P, Gumbhir KK, Randhwa HS & Singh VN (1963) Bagassosis. Indian J. Med. Res. 51: 563–633
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khan, Z.U., Gangwar, M., Gaur, S.N. et al. Thermophilic actinomycetes in cane sugar mills: an aeromicrobiologic and seroepidemiologic study. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 67, 339–344 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00872932
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00872932