Tropical infection and the lung

Abstract

The term 'tropical lung' has been used to describe the lungs that are vulnerable to those indigenous diseases that occur with particular prevalence in tropical countries. International travel, student and cultural exchanges and changing immigration patterns are insidiously transforming the face of medicine in Europe and other developed countries. The climates of tropical countries provide an ideal environment for pathogenic organisms, and their vectors and intermediate hosts, to flourish. In an average out-patient department, 20-40% of patients have been seen with respiratory complaints, and 20-30% of hospital medical admissions are for disorders predominantly affecting the lungs. Pulmonary tuberculosis is common in tropical countries as well as the rest of the world. The other principal environmentally related tropical pulmonary diseases are melioidosis, paragonimiasis, amoebiasis, leptospirosis, gnathostomiasis and tropical eosinophilia. It is essential that the practising clinician be aware of the increasing prevalence of various new and exotic tropical lung diseases. Clinicians in developing countries can now use their clinical skills together with recent developments in immunology, molecular biology and biochemistry to improve the diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic effectiveness related to tropical lung infections. Treatment, if inappropriate, may not only be worthless but, in many cases, extremely harmful and even fatal.