[Bowmaker's disease: an occupational disease in the manufacture of bows for string instruments]

Inhalation of wood dust from the tropical tree Fernambouc (Caesalpinia echinata) in the manufacture of string bows can cause characteristic symptoms (bow-makers disease). To confirm this observation, 177 bow-makers, working in a village near Erlangen (Bavaria), the centre of this manufacture, filled in questionnaires. Of these 36 worked with Fernambouc, 141 with other types of wood. Twelve out of these 36 suffered from dyspnoea, cough, sneezing impulses, tearing and coryza, which would disappear quickly at weekends and during holidays. 14 of those working with other types of wood merely had sneezing, irritation of the mucosa, a few also cough, dyspnoea and tearing. Extracts of Fernambouc splinters were made for serological testing. However, neither experimental sensitization in animals nor skin tests in the twelve gave allergic reactions. A 51-year-old woman with long-standing bronchial asthma developed dyspnoea five minutes after an inhalative provocation test; a prick test brought about slight infiltration. Thus, no evidence of an allergic origin of symptoms from Fernambouc dust inhalation could be elicited.