[Respiratory diseases in agriculture and breeding].

Agriculture is a particularly critical field for the health and safety of workers, especially because of the exposure to a variety of risk factors for respiratory system. Organic and mineral dusts, micro-organisms (fungi and bacteria), animal proteins, chemicals (pesticides, disinfectants and toxic gases (NH3, CO, H2S, SO2, NO2 CO2) often cause respiratory diseases in workers in this sector. In Italy, occupational diseases in agriculture have had a record growth--in terms of percentage increase--in the last few years, much higher than other industries (+ 341.8% between 2006 and 2010). This is due mainly to the exponential increase in number of musculoskeletal disorders and bronchopulmonary diseases; in particular, respiratory diseases have had a percentage increase equal to + 60.8% in the last six years. In this paper we'll discuss about the most frequent occupational respiratory diseases affecting agricultural workers and about their main causal agents.