Customs officers in relation to viral infections, tuberculosis, psittacosis and environmental health risk

Abstract

Customs Service is a financial authority responsible for controlling the flow of importation and exportation goods in each country and for collecting the relevant taxes. Customs officers are considered as 'high-demand' and 'high-responsibility' governmental officials, which constitute members of multidisciplinary teams at the local, as well as international level and collaborate with different authorities, including medical officers. Despite limited data in the medical literature, customs officers are considered as a 'high-risk' occupational group for infections and environmental health risk. During the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and influenza A/H1N1 pandemic outbreaks in 2003 and 2009, respectively, customs officers had a fundamental front-line input in the establishment of the recommended at that time border measures. In Belgium in 1994, a psittacosis outbreak occurred in customs officers following their exposure to illegally imported parakeets. During the recent increased immigration proceedings, customs officers have been involved in detaining unauthorized populations for various infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, varicella and measles. Occupational risk for customs officers also includes noise-induced hearing loss, exposure to diesel engine emission and stored tobacco and occupational stress due to their increased time-schedule and decision-making duties. In this review, we discuss customs officers' occupational risk towards environmental and infectious factors, including viral infections, tuberculosis and psittacosis.

Keywords: customs officers; health risk; influenza; measles; psittacosis; severe acute respiratory syndrome; tuberculosis; varicella; viral infections.