Respiratory effects
■ rhinitis (runny or stuffy nose);
■ coughing and breathing difficulties;
■ asthma (attacks of coughing, wheezing and chest tightness);
■ chronic bronchitis (cough and phlegm production usually in winter months and is also associated with
smoking);
■ chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (a longer-term illness that makes breathing progressively
difficult, and includes chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma);
■ extrinsic allergic alveolitis, for example farmer’s lung (fever, cough, increasing shortness of breath,
muscle/joint pains and weight loss);
■ organic dust toxic syndrome, for example grain fever (a sudden onset, short-lived, ‘flu-like’ illness with
fever and often associated with cough and chest discomfort).