Diffuse Interstitial Lung Disease Associated with Hydrogen Peroxide Inhalation in a Dairy Worker

Abstract

A 41-yr-old dairy worker, smoker of 40 cigarettes daily, presented with severe gas exchange impairment caused by interstitial lung disease, as shown by transbronchial biopsy. He was exposed chronically to an aerosol of hydrogen peroxide (41 mg/mm3; upper legal limit: 1.5 mg/mm3) which must be incriminated as the etiologic agent, since withdrawal from exposure resulted in improvement, and no other etiology could be identified.