Atypical pneumonia and environmental factors. Where have you been and what have you done?

The wide variety of conditions described in this paper emphasizes the potential importance of occupational, environmental, travel, and avocational history in the correct diagnosis of lung disease (Table 3). The focus of attention in this paper is quite clearly North America and other developed countries. To expand this discussion to include illnesses limited to the underdeveloped regions of the world would require a treatise of tropical and geographic medicine. Many times, these "exotic" circumstances can be dismissed in relatively short order. Detailed interrogation of a sick patient with pneumonia will be impossible in many cases. Nevertheless, if the clinical picture does not fall rapidly in line with the more common causes of pneumonia, consideration of these "unusual" causes of the syndrome may be essential.