Abstract
BackgroundMany work activities such as leather tanning include hazards to work. Among these, biological hazards are particularly important and pose a serious problem to human health and environment. The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of dysuria and urinary tract infections among tannery workers and to identify their risk factors.MethodsThis observational survey was conducted among 220 tannery workers and 220 age-matched control group from Fez city in Morocco. Reported urinary symptoms, demographic and professional information were obtained by a standardized questionnaire collected from participants and were then compared among the two groups. The logistic regression model was used to explore the interaction between variables with significant association.ResultsThe most common symptoms reported by tannery workers and controls were dysuria (36.4% vs. 1.8%, p < 0.001), voiding frequency (15.5% vs. 0.9%, p < 0.001) and incontinence (3.2% vs. 0.5%, p < 0.001). A positive urinary culture was seen in 3.64% of the tannery workers but not in the controls (0%). E-coli was the only species. Multivariate logistic regression showed that exposure to biological hazards increased significantly the odds of dysuria by 6.76 times (CI 1.112–41.78; p = 0.038) but rather, low or normal weight was a protective factor of dysuria (OR 0.53; CI 0.249–0.950; p = 0.035).ConclusionMultiple working conditions including exposure to biological hazards may cause an increase in urogenital disorders in the tannery workers. A significantly higher prevalence of urinary symptoms among male workers demand serious attention and further investigation.
Highlights
Many work activities such as leather tanning include hazards to work
The possibility of contracting urinary infection is a constant hazard for the tannery workers, because the animal skin and leather product contain many microorganisms that have been identified in urogenital diseases [20]
73.6% of them were exposed to various biological hazards and 69.5% of them they did not use any type of professional protective equipment
Summary
Many work activities such as leather tanning include hazards to work. Among these, biological hazards are important and pose a serious problem to human health and environment. The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of dysuria and urinary tract infections among tannery workers and to identify their risk factors. In addition to the working environment and raw skins, some tannery agents, such as oils, greases, pigeon dungs, and protein binders, provide nutrients for microorganism propagation [8, 13]. The most frequent bacteria isolated from hides and skins delivered directly to the tannery without prior treatment include: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Morganella morganii, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Lactobacillus Jensen and Bacillus mycoides [3, 19]. The possibility of contracting urinary infection is a constant hazard for the tannery workers, because the animal skin and leather product contain many microorganisms that have been identified in urogenital diseases [20]. Escherichia coli and Enterobacter species can cause urinary tract infection, wound infection and abscesses septicaemia
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