[Occupational infectious respiratory diseases]

Occupational infectious respiratory diseases are underestimate pathology because of an asymptomatic infection or the general, unspecific symptoms.

The most part of patients are among health care and agriculture or forestry workers (15% employee exposure of infectious risks in according with SUMMER study 2003). Biological risks interest two-third of health care workers, one-third of agriculture and food industry employees and one-forth of house-workers. Occupational diseases occur as flu-like illness, pneumonia, lung abscess or pleurisy. A possible classification for this pathology is by clinical manifestations: with respiratory predominance like tuberculosis, pasteurelosis, psittacosis or diseases like anthrax, brucellosis or tularemia with non respiratory predominance.

The authors remind the data of occupational respiratory infectious diseases, microbiological data and links between clinical symptoms and patients professions leading to diagnosis.