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Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis
Presentation
Acute
- shortness of breath
- follows exposure to environmental antigens, e.g. mouldy hay (farmers
lung), dander from birds (pigeon fanciers lung)
- flu-like illness
- cough
Chronic
- progressive shortness of breath
- leads to fibrosis
Immunological features
- T-cell mediated inflammation in interstitium
- Granulomas may be found in interstitium
- Circulating precipitating antibodies are a characterisitic feature
- CD8 dominance in bronchoalveolar lavage
Investigations
- Identification of specific precipitating antibodies in serum using
ouchtalony plates
- Pulmonary Function Tests
- cellular analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage
- identify activated macrophages
- CD8 dominance
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