ABSTRACT
Doctors may encounter great difficulty in investigating occupational disease. Consider the following case history.
A 40-year-old man had developed progressive shortness of breath over 12 months. There were no physical signs of respiratory disease other than breathlessness at rest, and a chest film showed diffuse hazy shadowing in both lungs with some irregular fibrosis in the upper zones. Lung function showed a severe restrictive pattern, with gas transfer reduced to 30 per cent of the predicted value.
