[Asbestosis in a truck driver: a clinical case and analysis of the exposure]

The paper reports a case of asbestosis in a truck driver whose anamnesis, at first, revealed no evidence of previous exposure to asbestos, whether occupational or extra occupational. A pleuro-pulmonary fibrosis was discovered in 1987, following an episode of exudative pleurisy on the right side. The thickened pleura was then surgically removed. In the samples of pleuro-pulmonary fibroid tissue taken during the operation, typical asbestos bodies were demonstrated in optical microscopy. The analysis of possible exposure to asbestos that might not have been referred in the anamnesis revealed that in at least six widely used truck models (of which three were driven by the worker from 1958 to 1984), the presence of an asbestos winding around a manifold found on the bottom or on the side of the engine. In such trucks, the engine is inside the driver's cab, covered by a cowling set on the floor. Asbestos fibers could enter the driver's cab through a little window in the cowling or through outlets in the dashboard, carried by the airflow generated by the big fan at the back of the radiator and by the truck motion itself. The window or the outlets remained open during cold periods of the year to allow the air, warmed by the motor, to enter the driver's cab.