Pandemic influenza and farmworkers: the effects of employment, social, and economic factors.

Employment, social, and economic factors have the potential to affect the magnitude of an influenza pandemic among farmworkers. Prevention efforts targeted toward livestock farmworkers, including increased access to seasonal influenza vaccine, risk reduction training, various forms of personal protection, and workplace sanitation, are needed. Crop and livestock farmworkers are at increased risk of exposure to influenza A viruses because of limited resources, substandard housing, immigration status, communication and cultural barriers, and discrimination. Recommendations were gathered from migrant clinicians, farmworker advocates, state and federal government agencies, industry stakeholders, and researchers to overcome these barriers, including surveillance of livestock farmworkers, inclusion of farmworker service organizations in planning efforts, and separation of immigration enforcement from emergency assistance.

Adapting the popular opinion leader intervention for Latino young migrant men who have sex with men.

Young Latino migrantmen who have sex with men are at high risk for HIV infection. The Popular Opinion Leader intervention, shown to be effective with White gay men, was adapted by the Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc., for this Latino migrant population. This project, called the Young Latino Promotores, was implemented over a 2-year period by community-based organizations in Vista, California, and McAllen, Texas, with capacity building assistance from the Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. We report on challenges, preliminary findings, and lessons learned from adapting this intervention.

Prenatal development is linked to bronchial reactivity: epidemiological and animal model evidence.

Chronic cardiorespiratory disease is associated with low birthweight suggesting the importance of the developmental environment. Prenatal factors affecting fetal growth are believed important, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. The influence of developmental programming on bronchial hyperreactivity is investigated in an animal model and evidence for comparable associations is sought in humans. Pregnant Wistar rats were fed either control or protein-restricted diets throughout pregnancy. Bronchoconstrictor responses were recorded from offspring bronchial segments. Morphometric analysis of paraffin-embedded lung sections was conducted. In a human mother-child cohort ultrasound measurements of fetal growth were related to bronchial hyperreactivity, measured at age six years using methacholine. Protein-restricted rats' offspring demonstrated greater bronchoconstriction than controls. Airway structure was not altered. Children with lesser abdominal circumference growth during 11-19 weeks' gestation had greater bronchial hyperreactivity than those with more rapid abdominal growth. Imbalanced maternal nutrition during pregnancy results in offspring bronchial hyperreactivity. Prenatal environmental influences might play a comparable role in humans.

Promoting the occupational health of indigenous farmworkers.

In the United States, approximately 78% of agricultural farmworkers are immigrants. In Oregon, a growing number of these farmworkers are indigenous and speak an indigenous language as their primary language. This group of farmworkers suffers from linguistic, cultural and geographic isolation and faces a unique set of challenges yet little has been done to identify their health needs. Using data from focus groups, partners from this community-based participatory research project examined indigenous farmworkers' concerns regarding occupational injury and illness, experiences of discrimination and disrespect, and language and cultural barriers. The data revealed examples of disrespect and discrimination based on the languages and cultures of indigenous farmworkers, and a lack of basic occupational health and safety information and equipment. For example, participants mentioned that occupational safety information was inaccessible because it was rarely provided in indigenous languages, and participants felt there were no legal means to protect farmworkers from occupational hazards. Community-based strategies designed to address the occupational health status of farmworkers must consider the unique circumstances of those farmworkers who do not speak Spanish or English.