Summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis outside Japan: a case report and the state of the art.

A 61-year-old Korean housewife developed dyspnoea, cough and weight loss in the summer of 1994. The case was diagnosed as definite summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis (SHP) according to the criteria proposed for hypersensitivity pneumonitis and for SHP. Her serum antibodies to Trichosporon were positive. Her symptoms were exacerbated after she returned home and Trichosporon was isolated from the patient's home, indicating Trichosporon as the causative antigen. This is the first confirmed case of SHP outside Japan. On the basis of our research in SHP to date, we propose that SHP occurs in other Asian countries and that the assay of anti-Trichosporon antibodies is useful for the diagnosis of the disease.