Airway Disease and Thaumatin-like Protein in an Olive-Oil Mill Worker

Abstract

To the Editor: The olive fruit is frequently consumed as food and used as raw material to obtain olive oil. Olive oil is pressed in mills, where workers are exposed daily to inhalation of particles derived from this processing. Despite widespread consumption, allergies to olive fruit and derivative products have seldom been documented.1–4 We report on a 41-year-old man who had been working since 1993 in an olive-oil mill. He was first seen in 2006, when the olive-oil mill was operating in Jaén, Spain; he had a 2-year history of episodic rhinitis, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and wheezing. . . .