Extrinsic allergic alveolitis in a female podiatrist: chiropody alveolitis

A female podiatrist (chiropodist) suffered from dypnea, malaise, and myalgias. An extrinsic allergic alveolitis was diagnosed by a restrictive lung function disorder, reduced diffusion capacity, ground glass attenuations on CT, BAL lymphocytosis, and IgG antibodies against the yeasts Torulopsis glabrata, Candida albicans, and the moulds Penicillium brevicompactum and Aspergillus fumigatus. These yeasts and moulds grow on human skin and nails. Avoiding these antigens her symptoms disappeared, and the lung function became normalized. Until now an extrinsic allergic alveolitis from podiatry was not known. For this new occupational lung disease we propose the term chiropody alveolitis.