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The role of environmental and occupational exposures in Turkish immigrants with fibre-related disease

¹ Chest Dept, Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, ² Pneumologie, Clinique St Etienne, Brussels, Belgium and ³ Institut de Recherche, Formation et Action sur les Migrations, Belgrade, Belgium

CORRESPONDENCE: P. Dumortier, Chest Dept, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Route de Lennik 808, B1070, Brussels, Belgium. Fax: 32 25554255

Keywords: asbestos, bronchoalveolar lavage, electron microscopy, environmental exposure, tremolite, Turkey

Received: August 25, 2000
Accepted January 26, 2001

This work was supported in part by grant no. 3.4524.97 from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Médicale.

Environmental exposure to tremolite and erionite causes endemic diseases of the lung and pleura in Turkey. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of these exposures and further occupational exposures on fibre-related diseases in Turkish immigrants living in Belgium.

The study included 51 males and 17 females that emigrated <1–38 yrs ago. Most of them (n=46) had nonmalignant pleural lesions, one had asbestosis and one had mesothelioma. Environmental asbestos exposure was likely for the majority of patients (60%), but there were also reports of possible occupational asbestos (n=14) and erionite (n=2) exposure.

Tremolite was the main fibre type in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Elevated concentrations of amosite or crocidolite were detected in only two patients. The delay elapsed since the end of the environmental exposure had no influence on the asbestos body or the tremolite fibre concentrations in the BALF of Turkish immigrants.

Most fibre-related diseases in Turkish immigrants are probably due to environmental rather than occupational exposure. Precise information about geographical origin and occupation should be obtained when investigating these patients. Mineralogical analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid gives valuable information on the type and intensity of exposure, especially in patients with both environmental and occupational exposure.

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