Impaired filterability of white cells in acute cerebral infarction.

investigated, and thus the bronchoconstriction is unlikely to have been a non-specific irritant reaction. The absence of airway hyperresponsiveness may have been because the measurements were taken some weeks after the last exposure to the spray, but hyperresponsiveness is not invariably present in patients with occupational asthma.4'5 Challenge with the disinfectant spray produced an asthmatic response in both patients and supported the clinical diagnosis of occupational asthma due to this agent. The use of chlorhexidine-alcohol aerosols was stopped in the departments where these nurses worked, and they remained free of symptoms. As this form of disinfection is widely used within the health service a large number of employees could be exposed to it. We have highlighted the risk within this health board and have notified both the manufacturers and the Committee on Safety of Medicines.