[Assessment and development of occupational diseases in health care workers in the eastern regions of the Czech Republic 1986-2000].

The present authors have summarized their experience of assessing occupational diseases in the health-service workers from the catchment area of the Department of Occupational Diseases of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Králové reported in the years 1986-2000. It is of great importance that, in spite of a decrease in occupational diseases in the Czech Republic as a whole, in health service workers occupational diseases still take a prominent place. In the Region of East Bohemia health services permanently occupy the first place, followed by agriculture and metalworking industry, which alternate. A positive finding in the number of viral hepatitides B has significantly decreases. On the other hand, the number of patients suffering from scabies and, above all, allergic diseases, in which contact allergic eczemata due to hypersensitivity to latex contained in protective gloves inequivocally prevail, is on the increase. Though there is no increase in the number of patients with tuberculosis, there is an important finding that the disease affects mainly persons younger than 35 years.