SURVEILLANCE, RISK ASSESSMENT and ALLERGENS

Working  Group 4 will add the focus of work related allergies to the already existing non-funded European Surveillance System of Contact Allergy (ESSCA)  with the aim to increase the knowledge about risk occupations and risk exposures in different countries leading to contact sensitisations. All European centres performing patch tests in patients with OSD will be asked to join the Action and follow the to-be-extended protocol based on the electronic documentation of the ESSCA network. The data will be used to design studies targeting effective individual prevention, but also to establish threshold concentrations for the allergens in question.

The main approaches of this WG will be:

  • To collect data on contact allergy in Europe making use of the extended ESSCA network (a data form addressing especially occupational exposures will be developed)
  • Based on this data it will be possible to:

    • develop targeted prevention with regard to various occupations and risk profiles according to the needs of each country
    • design clinical experimental studies which will both establish thresholds of exposure to the identified main allergens and protect the workers from contact allergy in the future (the extended ESSCA network can serve as a platform for joint collaboration in such specialised ‘add-on’ studies)

The expected outcomes are:

  • Identification of risk occupations, risk exposures and culprit allergens
  • Identification of trends of contact allergy after e.g. EU-wide regulatory interventions
  • A joint open access database containing new workplace allergens and their test modalities
  • Data which will feed regulation (e.g. REACH) improving risk assessment and management