Farmer's lung and other allergic alveolitis

Allergic alveolitis is the general term for a group of diseases characterised by an allergic reaction to organic material. Farmer's lung, which arises from the inhalation of dust or spores arising from mouldy hay, grain and straw, is the most common form of the disease. There have typically been around 5 or less new assessed cases for disablement benefit each year over the last few years, though in 2007 there were 20 cases (Table IIDB05). The number of deaths where farmer's lung (or a similar condition) was recorded as the underlying cause is generally of a similar order of magnitude: typically between 5-10 deaths a year in the last few years, as shown in Table DC01, although in 2005 there were 13 deaths. The disease only rarely progresses to a life-threatening level, and this suggests that there are substantially more cases than those receiving compensation.

Evidence from SWORD/OPRA supports this with the estimated number of new cases fluctuating between about 20 and 50 per year over the last 10 years with no obvious trends. Almost all of these cases were seen by respiratory physicians (Table THORR01). In most years numbers of THOR cases are substantially higher than the numbers of Disablement Benefit cases. One possible explanation for the small number of compensated cases is that farmers, who constitute the largest group of sufferers, are often self-employed and therefore ineligible for compensation.

Allergic rhinitis

From March 1996 the definition of the prescribed disease called 'inflammation or ulceration of the upper respiratory tract or mouth' was redefined by the Department for Work and Pensions as 'allergic rhinitis', with a list of recognised prescribed agents as for asthma. Under the earlier prescription any occupation exposed to harmful dust, liquid or vapour could qualify.

There were 45 assessed cases of this condition in 2006/07 (Table IIDB03). The substantial reduction in the number of cases seen in 1996/97 is likely to reflect changes both to the prescription rules and, possibly, to the method of data collection for Industrial Injuries and Disablement Benefit (IIDB) statistics.

Byssinosis

Byssinosis is an illness associated with exposure to cotton dust with both acute and, in some cases, long-term effects.  The numbers of compensated cases have been in single figures for more than the last decade (Table IIDB05). The number of death certificates per year with byssinosis recorded as the underlying cause of death is also low: there were 5 deaths in 2006 (Table DC01).