Table 1
Estimated numbers of persons working with laboratory animals in the UK, 1999, by job category and species; rates of occupational asthma and rhinitis among persons working with small mammals, insects, birds
| No. animal technicians | No. researchers | No. others | Total no.* | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Lower | Higher | Lower | Higher | Lower | Higher | Lower | Higher | Estimated cases of asthma | Estimated cases of rhinitis | Rate of asthma/1000/y (95% CI) | Rate of rhinitis/1000/y (95% CI) |
| *Column totals for each job group are not the sum for each species due to cross handling of different species. | ||||||||||||
| Mice | 1224 | 1812 | 5053 | 7478 | 806 | 1193 | 7083 | 10483 | ||||
| Rats | 1000 | 1480 | 4534 | 6710 | 796 | 1178 | 6330 | 9368 | ||||
| Guinea pigs | 578 | 855 | 2915 | 4314 | 498 | 737 | 3991 | 5906 | ||||
| Hamsters, rabbits, ferrets | 707 | 1046 | 2720 | 4027 | 710 | 1051 | 4137 | 6124 | ||||
| Any small animals | 2018 | 2886 | 8669 | 12397 | 1385 | 1981 | 12073 | 17262 | 27 | 43 | 1.56 (1.03 to 2.28) | 2.49 (1.80 to 3.35) |
| Sheep, cows, pigs, goats, horses | 504 | 746 | 661 | 978 | 277 | 410 | 1442 | 2134 | ||||
| Cats, dogs | 220 | 326 | 304 | 450 | 101 | 149 | 625 | 925 | ||||
| Primates | 188 | 278 | 160 | 237 | 60 | 89 | 408 | 604 | ||||
| Any large animals | 859 | 1228 | 1060 | 1516 | 413 | 591 | 2332 | 3335 | ||||
| Fish | 74 | 107 | 260 | 377 | 107 | 155 | 441 | 639 | ||||
| Poultry | 82 | 117 | 142 | 203 | 147 | 210 | 371 | 530 | ||||
| Insects | 58 | 84 | 184 | 267 | 52 | 75 | 294 | 426 | 1 | 9 | 2.35 (0.06 to 13.1) | 21.1 (9.65 to 40.1) |
| Birds (not poultry) | 31 | 44 | 65 | 93 | 50 | 72 | 146 | 209 | 5 | 3 | 23.9 (7.75 to 56.0) | 14.4 (2.96 to 42.0) |
