[Prevention of work-related muscular-skeletal disorders of upper limbs: a social challenge and economic obligation]. / Prévenir les troubles musculosquelettiques du membre supérieur: un enjeu social et économique.

Work-related muscular-skeletal disorders of upper limbs (WRMSDul) represent 66% of all occupational injuries and diseases (OD). The total number of cases has multiplied by 8 over the past eleven years, and in 2002 there were 21126 OD incidents recorded. Although OD statistical data are not necessarily a truly precise reflection of the reality of associated risks, examination of these trends shows that over the past 10 years the most serious diseases, like rotator cuff tendonitis, have increased more rapidly than have the totality of WRMSDul cases as a whole. It is likely that the number of injured workers will continue to increase over the course of the coming years. An evaluation of indirect costs also demonstrates that there are significant social consequences associated with these diseases and which put into question the employability of the affected workers, who are often aged between 40 and 60 years old. This paper therefore brings to the surface the importance of prevention principles and proposes an ambitions prevention plan. This emblematic occupational health risk will constitute, along with professionally related cancers, one of the major challenges for prevention in the coming years.

[Efficiency of diagnosis of latex allergy by the combined use of three latex materials for prick-tests]. / Intérêt de l'utilisation associée de trois matériels de latex pour prick-tests, dans le diagnostic de l'allergie au latex.

The diagnosis of latex allergy is mainly based on prick-tests. In order to improve the efficiency of the diagnosis, a comparative study of three latex materials is carried out in 64 controls and 29 patients allergic to latex = Stallergènes and Allerbio extracts, prepared from crude natural latex, and an ammoniated emulsion of rubber latex (AEL). No adverse reactions are recorded. The specificity is 100% for both extracts, 85% for AEL. Sensitivity is respectively 68%, 63%, 72%. The range of values of the wheal is significantly narrower for Stallergènes extract. 46% of allergic patients are reactive to the three materials. The combined use of three materials reaches an 80% efficiency similar to that of Rast Cap System and the addition of three prick-tests and Rast obtains an efficiency of 93.1%. Using several latex materials could increase the efficiency of the diagnosis, inasmuch as the extracts are generated from natural latex, whereas patients are sensitized to manufactured products originating from ammoniated latex.