Housecleaners Have Higher Asthma Risk
 (HealthDayNews, 10/27/03)

Jan-Paul Zock, of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain, and associates, conducted a telephone survey, questioning over 4,500 women in the Barcelona area about their jobs and whether they had been diagnosed with, or were experiencing, respiratory problems. The researchers found that more than 12% of the women who were, or had previously been, housecleaners reported symptoms of asthma or respiratory disease, compared with 5% of those who had never worked in this field. The scientists speculate that asthma is an occupational hazard for housecleaners because of exposure to chemical substances and/or to harmful combinations of cleaning products. Zock and team will follow up by investigating which specific cleaners were used and whether they were combined.