Summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis in southern Africa. A report of 5 cases in one family.

Five patients, from a family of 8 who all lived in the same house, developed chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The 4 patients followed up showed features strikingly similar to summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis, previously thought unique to Japan. The clinical setting and limited immunological investigations suggest the cause to be a bacterial or fungal growth in the roof of the house.