Methodological approach for the study of laboratory animal allergy: a proposal to harmonize the procedure of risk evaluation

Animal facilities are environments in which workers are potentially exposed to biological, chemical, and physical agents, therefore they can develop allergic diseases of different severity. The allergy risk arises from exposure to allergens of animal origin (such as mice and rats) whose main sources are hair, dander, urine and saliva. In 1998, the LAA (Laboratory Animal Allergy) has been officially recognized as occupational risk in the USA and has been studied for years in other countries, where institutional recommendations have been issued in this regard. In Italy, this allergic condition has received little attention, especially in terms of legislation and regulations. About a third of those working with laboratory animals may experience allergic symptoms within the first three working years and of these, a percentage higher than 10% can develop occupational asthma and rhinitis. The study proposes an analytical and descriptive flow chart that could be a reference tool for those dealing with such occupational hazard in order to harmonize the methodological approach. In this context, the first step is to find a commonly shared definition of LAA-positive workers - i.e. those serological IgE-positives with clinical symptoms in order to harmonize the terminology and overcome the methodological discrepancy found in the literature. The following step is an innovative research approach based on both sequencing of new allergens and evaluating their presence in several environmental and biological matrices through molecular methodologies.