| Summary: | A case control study was performed in 6 cotton mills in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The
study used questionnaire and pulmonary function testing results to categorise respiratory
symptoms in 52 exposed symptomatic, 30 exposed asymptomatic and 46 unexposed control
subjects. These categorisation results were used to explore the relationship between serum
IgG subclasses and cotton-specific IgG to byssinosis.
No definitive relationships between the serum IgG subclasses and clinical and functional
symptoms of byssinosis were found . Whereas, exposed symptomatic (22.72 mg All) subjects
had significantly higher (P = 0.01) mean specific IgG concentrations than exposed
asymptomatic (15.02 mg All) or unexposed control (13.08 mg All) subjects. A pathoaetiological
or marker-aetiological role is indicated for specific IgG in the development of
byssinosis.
The findings of this research challenged the status quo in terms of the accepted aetiological
pathways of byssinosis. In turn the acceptance of a different aetiological pathway provided a
possible answer to the varying presentation of the disease and by implication contested the
current definition of byssinosis. === Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.
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