Acute alveolitis in a fisherman hot knife cutting nylon/polypropylene rope

Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis (Hypersensitivity pneumonitis) found on lung biopsy of worker cutting nylon/polypropylene rope with a hot knife causing visible fumes in a confined space over several years. The acute illness recurred with reexposure. Foir the previous year he had recurrent coughing, wheezing and sputum probably also work-related. No specific challenges were done, but the fumes from nylon/polypropylene heating were the most likely cause.
There are large numbers of workers involved in injection moulding of these plastics who might have similar exposures. Occupational asthma has been described from polypropylene fumes. The authors of this paper alude to nylon flock lung, where the exposures are no fibres and not fumes.

References

	Sharman P, Wood-Baker R, Interstitial lung disease due to fumes from heat-cutting polymer rope, Occup Med, 2013;63:451-453,

	Kern DG, Kuhn C, Ely EW, Pransky GS, Mello CJ, Fraire AE, Flock Worker’s Lung*: Broadening the Spectrum of Clinicopathology, Narrowing the Spectrum of Suspected Etiologies, Chest, 2000;117:251-259,

	Kern DG, Crausman RS, Durand KT, Nayer A, Kuhn C, Flock worker's lung: chronic interstitial lung disease in the nylon flocking industry, Ann Intern Med, 1998;129:261-272,

	Malo JL, Cartier A, Pineault L, Dugas M, Desjardins A, Occupational asthma due to heated polypropylene, Eur Respir J, 1994;7:415-417,

Comments