Farmer’s Lungs, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Farmer’s Lungs, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

Farmer's Lung is a disease produced by an allergy to the mold in certain farm crops.

Farmers tend most prone to get it since it is normally produced by inhaling dust from hay, grass, and corn used for animal feed, grain, tobacco or some pesticides.

Not everyone obtains farmer's lung after breathing in these substances.

It only happens if the patient has an allergic response.

Farmer's lung is an allergy produced by the dust from moldy hay, straw and grain.

In early stages of the disease, it can appear like nothing more serious than a nagging winter cold.

If overlooked, the allergic reaction can produce permanent lung damage.

The patient may be forced to renounce farming and in some cases may experience permanent disability or even death.

Early diagnosis is important if lasting injury is to be avoided.

Since farmer's lung is featured by cold or flu-like symptoms, the early detection is difficult.

Many patients will not have any difficulty to consult a doctor due to continuous symptoms.

When they do, the exposure to moldy crop material is seldom reported to the doctor.

This can be catastrophic since each exposure raises the injury.

Farmers who do not consult doctors could burden their families with their illnesses.

It is also termed extrinsic allergic alveolitis, hypersensitivity alveolitis or hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

With farmer's lung disease, the inflammation happens in the lungs.

Molds are the main cause of Farmer’s Lungs.

When farm crops are kept without adequate drying, they start to heat up.

Many kinds of mold develop in such environments.

When a farmer comes in contact with such material (when a large bundle of hay is taken apart) the mold is discharged as part of a very fine dust.

A farmer who is working indoors may breathe in a large quantity of this dust in a very short time.

Since the dust is so fine, it goes past defense systems in the nose and throat.

When the dust arrives at the inner parts of the lungs (termed the alveoli), the lungs' internal defense system gets control.

In most patients, the dust is eliminated without injury to the lungs.

An allergic reaction to the dust develops in a few patients.

The patient’s body believes that the mold is more serious than is actually the case, and starts to attack the dust materials.

The first exposure in sensitive patients only produces the allergy.

Every subsequent exposure to the dust activates an allergic response.

The body's immune system starts to attack the mold, causing symptoms which may be similar to anything from a cold to pneumonia.

Scar tissue (fibrosis) develops inside the lungs.

While cold-like symptoms may resolve, the fibrosis can be permanent.

Lung injury may be too insignificant to observe in the early stages of farmer's lung.

Each subsequent exposure will raise the amount of lung tissue damage.

A patient will soon start to observe that they are short of breath.

At first, this lung injury causes laborious work to be more difficult.

Even routine works become too difficult after the frequent and repeated exposure.

Ultimately, the patient may find it an effort to even stand up from a chair.

It is frequent for farmers to get this disorder from moldy hay and other crops.

The patient also can get it from dust in substances like:
1. Animal dander
2. Bacteria
3. Bark
4. Bird droppings
5. Dried rat urine
6. Feathers
7. Fungi
8. Husks
9. Insects
10. Wood

These allergens have to be very tiny around 5 millionths meter (5 microns) to involve the patient.

Dairy farmers are the most frequent patients.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Farmer’s Lungs
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: May 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463231531

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Farmer’s Lungs,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2020 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Farmer’s Lungs, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Farmer’s Lungs)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Farmer's Lung

What Is Farmer's Lung?

Farmer's Lung is a disease produced by an allergy to the mold in certain farm crops.

Farmers tend most prone to get it since it is normally produced by inhaling dust from hay, grass, and corn used for animal feed, grain, tobacco or some pesticides.

Not everyone obtains farmer's lung after breathing in these substances.

It only happens if the patient has an allergic response.

Farmer's lung is an allergy produced by the dust from moldy hay, straw and grain.

In early stages of the disease, it can appear like nothing more serious than a nagging winter cold.

If overlooked, the allergic reaction can produce permanent lung damage.

The patient may be forced to renounce farming and in some cases may experience permanent disability or even death.

Early diagnosis is important if lasting injury is to be avoided.

Since farmer's lung is featured by cold or flu-like symptoms, the early detection is difficult.

Many patients will not have any difficulty to consult a doctor due to continuous symptoms.

When they do, the exposure to moldy crop material is seldom reported to the doctor.

This can be catastrophic since each exposure raises the injury.

Farmers who do not consult doctors could burden their families with their illnesses.

It is also termed extrinsic allergic alveolitis, hypersensitivity alveolitis or hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

The -itis at the end of these disorders indicates it produces inflammation.

With farmer's lung disease, the inflammation (swelling) happens in the lungs.

What Is the Cause of Farmer's Lung?

Cause

Molds are the main cause of Farmer’s Lungs.

When farm crops are kept without adequate drying, they start to heat up.

Many kinds of mold develop in such environments.

When a farmer comes in contact with such material (when a large bundle of hay is taken apart) the mold is discharged as part of a very fine dust.

A farmer who is working indoors may breathe in a large quantity of this dust in a very short time.

Since the dust is so fine, it goes past defense systems in the nose and throat.

When the dust arrives at the inner parts of the lungs (termed the alveoli), the lungs' internal defense system gets control.

In most patients, the dust is eliminated without injury to the lungs.

An allergic reaction to the dust develops in a few patients.

The patient’s body believes that the mold is more serious than is actually the case, and starts to attack the dust materials.

The first exposure in sensitive patients only produces the allergy.

Every subsequent exposure to the dust activates an allergic response.

The body's immune system starts to attack the mold, causing symptoms which may be similar

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