To the Editor We read with great interest the article recently published by Fukada et al. entitled, “Bucillamine-induced Pneumonitis in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis-associated Interstitial Pneumonia: A Case Report and Review of the Literature” (1).
However, we feel compelled to point out a few important issues with the study. The authors showed that Bucillamine was able to induce pneumonitis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated pre-existing interstitial pneumonia. Some studies have reported the acute exacerbation of interstitial fibrosis after viral infections, typically caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) or human herpesvirus (HHV) and Influenza A (H1N1) vaccinations (2,3). We are therefore curious about the vaccination history of the patient in the present study and would like to learn whether or not the patient was evaluated for the presence of respiratory airway virus. In addition, taking antacids, air pollution, environmental factors and other seasonal factors are risk factors for acute exacerbation (4). However, we did not see any information related to these factors mentioned in the manuscript.
The authors state that they have no Conflict of Interest (COI).
References
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