Pneumonitis Due to<i>Cryptostroma corticale</i>(Maple-Bark Disease)

Abstract

MAPLE-bark disease is an unusual disorder that affects both trees and man. The fungus, Cryptostroma corticale (Fig. 1), can cause death to the sycamore tree1 and also a totally disabling pulmonary disease in man.2 , 3 There are only 2 reports in the literature of its effect on man, the first by Towey, Sweany and Huron2 (1932) and the second by Emanuel, Lawton and Wenzel3 (1962).Since 1961 we have seen 5 patients in whom the diagnosis has been verified by pulmonary biopsy (Table 1). This report contains the clinical and laboratory studies of the men in whom clinical disease developed after . . .